Marine

C.A.T. concept imagines the water taxi of the future

C.A.T. concept imagines the water taxi of the future
The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
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An illustration of how CAT can work in an inner-city environment (Image: Curve Creative)
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An illustration of how CAT can work in an inner-city environment (Image: Curve Creative)
The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
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The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
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The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
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The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
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The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
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The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
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The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
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The city aquatic transport concept (Image: Curve Creative)
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Dubbed C.A.T. (City Aquatic Transport), this personal water service concept from Irish industrial design studio Curve Creative is aimed at providing an alternative to battling traffic on congested inner-city roads.

The main idea behind C.A.T. is to create a user-friendly system that facilitates online pre-booking or jumping on at docks around the city. The craft is designed to transport four passengers and features 360-degree rotating seats, a central folding table and a glass roof to allow for all-weather use without obstructing the view. It could be driven manually or in auto-drive and it would also addition accommodate a working space, including Wi-Fi access and power points for laptops or other portable devices.

The designers say C.A.T. would use a fully electric propulsion system if it ever makes it off the drawing board.

An illustration of how CAT can work in an inner-city environment (Image: Curve Creative)
An illustration of how CAT can work in an inner-city environment (Image: Curve Creative)

Source: Curve Creative via Yanko Design.

View gallery - 8 images
8 comments
8 comments
Hilary Albutt
only useful in cities with rivers or ocean links, I can see how it would work well in an integrated transport plan with hubs for buses and train dropping off and picking up from dedicated hubs
Robert in Vancouver
Very good idea for cities with lots of natural water ways like Vancouver, Bangkok, London, and New York.
But I\'m sure environmental groups will \'invent\' reasons to protest and block it. It would give them a new cause to use in money raising campaigns.
Matt Fletcher
I think this would be an excellent option anywhere there is a lot of pedestrian traffic it\'s mostly warm and:
1. no taxis are around.
2. city has bad traffic issues.
3. there are a lot of interconnecting waterways.
4. a bridge is at least a mile away.

Places where people head to islands or on islands would be another great use for these (Bahamas, Indonesia, Japan, Hawaii, Greece or the Mediterranean.)
JLR
Most destinations would not be waterfront to waterfront, so probably not a huge use for this vehicle anyplace except Venice. Otherwise, will only be useful as an expensive flatwater ferry.
jochair
The next version will be the City Underwater Transport or CUT. the perfect solution for those that want to breach sea-blockades. or for those that want to escape unseen from harbours.V2 will also evade water surface traffic jams. but what if one sinks?, can the people be saved?
Wesley Bruce
Nice design. I suspect it would not be sea worthy so its definitely a creature of lakes and rivers particularly the man made ones in Dubai. I can\'t see how it docks with the wharf. Ropes and robotic boats don\'t work well. I\'d go for electro-magnets in the dock and a pair of fixed magnets in the stern. That would also allow inductive charging. These could be made sea worthy if they were designed to link up side to side creating a multi-hull. they could then cross rough water two by two. I may have a chat with the designers.
Brian Tomilson
Florida has a lot of waterways, and is home to some of the most versatile wetlands and protected habitat areas in the world... there are a lot of cities along our coastlines, on both the east and west coasts, not to mention the gulf of Mexico. I think this would be a unique way to intergrate evolving technologies and lead people to explore the water optional transport systems that these companies are obviously interest in integrating into our societies. Sure, there are goin to be hurdles and probably some kinks to work out, but if thes vehicles run on clean energy and bring interesting new experiences to future generations, then why not give it all we can?? this could be just the beginning to a whole new world of transportation options that will unclog our city streets and bring some enjoyment to a part of our world that is 2/3 water!!! LETS EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITIES!!! just dont expect the funding to come from our tax money, let the interested parties pay for their own concepts and ideas!!
Griffin
Why do you assume you need natural water? Southern California is full of unused drainage canals. They\'d be great for commuting in certain areas- a smaller canal could be placed in the larger canal and the water could be re-circulated seawater.
Also, roads and railroads are expensive to install and maintain. Perhaps water could be more expedient in certain locales and good for areas lacking infrastructure development $.