Arcachon, France, October 2024 – BlueNav, a company that creates “add-on” electric motors for boats and navigation assistance software solutions, presented its BlueBoat to the public for the first time on September 20th in Bordeaux.
Towards a progressive transformation of urban mobility
The increase in traffic on waterways accompanies an increasing automation of transport in all sectors, and particularly for river transport. In this context, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games represented a fantastic opportunity to promote the national river network, innovations around new uses of water, as well as innovative and decarbonized propulsion methods.
As the national operator responsible for promoting river transport, Voies Navigables de France (VNF), with the support of the Transport Innovation Agency, launched a call for projects for the implementation of demonstration boats for ferry services with automated navigation and low-carbon engines. BlueNav seized this major strategic opportunity, applied and won this challenge. Ultimately, this technology could be deployed on a larger scale, in other cities and situations.
The different actors of the project
BlueBoat is the project led by BlueNav, a French manufacturer of electric motors for the hybridization of boats. It is developed in association with Orion Naval Engineering, a naval architecture and engineering firm based in Bordeaux and Toulon, as well as with MOSAT / Drone Protect System, a company specialized in surveillance drones. They were joined by Bordeaux Métropole and its transport operator Keolis, committed to sustainable and connected mobility, and by Port of Bordeaux which will host the demonstration boat on its site. The objective of the French consortium was to develop and build a 10-metre long river boat, with a capacity of 12 seats, accessible to people with reduced mobility (PMR) and with electric propulsion and autonomy level 3.
The various innovations of the electric and autonomous river crossing device
This river shuttle boat offers innovative and unique solutions, entirely developed by BlueNav:
- A pre-programmed route tracking
- An obstacle detection system (lidar)
- A virtual anchor
- An automatic docking system (docking + lowering of the gangway)
- 2 BlueSpin 15kw outboard electric motors
