Forget Uber, take a flying water taxi home on Friday nights instead – as French inventor Alain Thebault shows off his SeaBubble
Forget the ongoing battles between London’s traditional black cabs and Uber – if a French inventor has his way, flying water taxis could soon be hovering over the Thames.
Boris Johnson is apparently among a group which has contacted the inventor, Alain Thebault, to ask about his new lightweight “SeaBubble” vehicle.
The SeaBubble, described as “a bubble with four wings”, floats 17cm above the ground (or water) and can reach up to 18km per hour with the help of two small electric motors.
Voila, as they say across the Channel:
https://twitter.com/TeamHydroptere/status/699167928500035584
It is the latest design from Thebault, who previously designed and built one of the fastest sailboats in the world.
“The idea actually came from my daughters after I sailed from LA to Hawaii recently,” Thebault told the French news site The Local.
“They told me to invent a zero-emission cab because they were sick of seeing the pollution in Paris, London and the US.”
The SeaBubble has a retail price of around €30,000 (£23,400) and is already backed by several investors.
Although at the beginning there will likely be human drivers, he has said the vehicle could become “autonomous”.