New Zealand entrepreneur Alan Gibbs has demonstrated his innovative amphibious commercial vehicle, the Humdinga, on the River Thames in London.
The four-wheel-drive, 7-metre long vehicle is being trialled by a five-star London hotel as a new luxury taxi-cab, that can operate on land, and on water.
The vehicle is being assessed by a hotel opposite Canary Wharf, and wil be used to ferry passengers between the hotel and London City Airport.
The UK-based Gibbs Technologies is known for the Aquada amphibious sports car.
Gibbs Amphibian’s Humdinga is currently licenced to a Singaporean Government-owned company -STK - and has found a strong market as a vehicle for flood relief across Asia. Forty of the vehicles are to be manufactured.
“They’re very keen on the concept of an AmphiCab,” said Gibbs. “They plan to pick up their guests from London City Airport and literally deliver them to the hotel door via the Thames, then taking them on to business meetings in the City.
“It will be a great experience for the guests, faster and much more efficient than by road,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gibbs’ has been extending his amphibian product range with some innovative new vehicles developed here in New Zealand.
He is soon to launch the Terraquad - a new high-speed sports amphibian, not previously seen, which features side-by-side seating and is now available for commercial licencing.
But Gibbs says his new breakthrough product is the Biski; a motorbike that can operate at normal highway speeds on the road, and on water at over 50 Km/h. When it was first shown on Facebook it generated 26 Million hits.
The Biski is currently being developed in Mount Wellington, Auckland; overseen by Noel Lane and led by his head of amphibian sports development Chief Engineer, Simon Longdill.