"We have been promised a future of effortless mobility, a world of flying cars and autonomous pods whisking us through gleaming cityscapes. But as we sit in gridlocked traffic, that future feels perpetually out of reach. As we wait for new bridges and tunnels to provide moderate relief, we have been looking to the skies for a better solution when the answer has been at our feet all along: the water."
"In response, a handful of companies across the world are rethinking what's possible by applying advances in manufacturing, sensing, and computing - born from autonomous cars and drones - to marine mobility. Now, a new generation of high-speed, ultra-efficient hydrofoiling vessels - "flying boats" - is poised to redefine how we move through cities, offering faster point-to-point connections and fundamentally reimagining our urban geography."
Cities continue to experience severe gridlock despite visions of flying cars and autonomous pods. Historically, rivers and coastlines served as primary transport arteries but were neglected as automotive infrastructure expanded. Today, 40% of people live near shorelines and most megacities cluster on coasts, concentrating population and economic activity into limited coastal land and creating acute land-based mobility constraints. Advances in manufacturing, sensing, and computing enable the transfer of autonomous technologies to marine transport. A new generation of high-speed, ultra-efficient hydrofoiling vessels, termed "flying boats," offers faster point-to-point connections and the potential to fundamentally reshape urban geography by using water routes.
Read at Big Think
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