Slashdot Mirror
Amphibious Car Beats Urban Congestion
woodhouse writes "According to BBC News, a company in the UK have just tested a fully amphibious car on the Thames river. It can travel at up to 100 miles an hour on land, and its wheels fold up to allow it to speed across water at 30mph, propelled by a jet. The company responsible, Aquada, suggest it's a good way to avoid congestion."
Why a convertible? Riding it is going to be like one of those amusement park rides that gets everyone wet.
> "The Thames is a perfect location to make use
> of this vehicle as it has no speed limit and
> is greatly under-utilised."
Those silly Brits. We have speed limits posted for all bodies of water here in the US.
It's Slashdot's evil twin... SlashNOT
Can someone Loan me the $295,000 dollars to buy it?
Also I cant wait for one to be stolen in Los Angeles and the resulting police chase. I'd love to see the looks on the cops faces when it drives into one of the aquaducts and gets away from the cars at least. I'm sure the helicopter pioliot will be laughing at least.
But when will the missle and torpedo options be available?
--Goat
CEO, Goat Software
Goatblog
I for one welcome our new beowulf cluster of... oh, never mind...
Perhaps the answer to the problem of teenagers dropping bricks from motorway and railway bridges is to sue Tetris.
I can post the only kinda Linux car joke that I know!!!
-B
According to The Spy Who Loved Me you can use a beach to get out, as long as you're accompanied by Barbara Bach.
"This is why men never share their feelings; because women always remember." -Just Shoot Me.
What about the all the roads getting wet'n'slippery for normal people?
You make some interesting points, but I think the "Dukes of Hazard Jump" option would only be available if the horn plays "Dixie." As it's a British vehicle, I doubt that's an option. Also, since it's an open-top car, how do you plan to jump through the window? Sorry, I'm afraid this vehicle simply isn't up to the standards of the Duke boys of Hazard County.
P.S.
I can see ol' Roscoe throwing his hat out the window right now when this thing goes into the water and motors off, while he crashes into the surf! Lordy, the messes he gets into!
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
More importantly, do you avoid the 5 pound congestion road tax in London when you're driving on the Thames?
--Azaroth
Yeh, but just look at the width of it...wow!
...and he grinned, like a fox eating shit out of a wire brush.
Aquada.. that must be the amphibious Al-Qaida movement I presume.
No, I did not read the headline or the article, you insensitive clod.
That's just the American way of thinning the herd.
go back to hugging trees, hippy.
Great, now not only will people have to worry about accidents during rush hour, but there's the added excitement of the possibility of drowning.
Seriously though, there are specific rules regarding the use of waterways, and there are enough problems with boaters who are ignorant of them. The last thing needed is a bunch of harried commuters with no clue about the rules and rights of way of navigation on the water.
Facts are stubborn things.
.....we called it the bat mobile:)
Carpe Diem: Seize The Day!
Maybe, it's just a good way to avoid profit.
Will code a sig generator for food
Of course.
It is our language, after all.
(my fiancee is both American and a linguist, so you can imagine how well that line goes down when I come out with it at home...)
As everybody knows, the UK drives on the left. Well, on the roads it does; on the rivers it drives on the right. So if this thing is going down a flooded road (a good reason to buy it), which side should it drive on? Every time the wheels float off or touch ground, it should change sides. And if, on boar mode, it meets (say) an agricultural tractor going the other way, you have a free fender bender right there.
Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
Technically, he only mentioned Germans, not Nazis or Hitler. And he did not use it to argue or to compare something to out of malice. I wouldn't invoke Godwin's law here. Now if he said "These amphibious cars are the destruction of society... you know who else had them right? The Nazis!" then we might have an issue. Or maybe my sarcasm detectors just out of batteries... (goes to find battery tester).
Only the British would *admit* to inventing Viagra.
Here, in the US, we have commercials for it, but nobody *needs* to use it, because we have enormous turgid 12-cylinder American penises that get 3mpg and are not in compliance with the Kyoto accord.
> The company responsible, Aquada, suggest it's a good way to avoid congestion."
Only for the first ones...
And only for a short time...
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
The Cubans beat them to it.
Damn, that was stupid putting the PLA in charge. What, do they blow you up for speeding? Maybe have Arafat look at you all twitchy if you turn without signalling out there? Small wonder Britain has no amphibious cars.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat