With sea levels projected to rise by as much as 38cm by 2050, Venice could soon well be but one of many water-logged cities with watery streets. Don’t worry; we won’t still be able to hail a cab like always. It will just look a bit less like a yellow checker, and more like a seafaring tangerine.
Built by Italian design duo and owners of the Jet Capsule company, Luca Solla and Pierpaolo Lazzarini this floating cab, dubbed the “2015 Water Taxi”, is a stylish and modern take on the humble water taxi. It measures 7m long by 3m wide and displaces three tonnes when carrying a full load of 13 people; that’s one pilot and up to a dozen passengers.
The Water Taxi can currently be powered by either a single 370hp diesel engine or a pair of 250hp petrol engines, though Solla and Lazzarini are working adapting hybrid or even fully-electric power plants into future iterations, and is propelled by a Hamiltonjet waterjet, which delivers a top speed of 32 knots. Plus, its 350-litre engine provides enough petrol for trips as far as 314km — that’s just a tad farther than sailing from NYC to New Haven and back again — and the craft itself is rated to sail in up to 1.8m high swells.
The Jet capsule taxi service is expected to start up in Italy at some point next year, and the company is already planning expanding to other major coastal cities including Dubai, Moscow and Miami. That is, until Uber catches wind of what they’re doing. [Jet Capsule via Design Boom, 6sqft]
Pictures: Jet Capsule