BlueNav showcased its demo boat

Arcachon, France, October 2024 – BlueNav, a company specializing in “add-on” electric motors and navigation assistance software for boats, publicly unveiled its BlueBoat for the first time on September 20th in Bordeaux.

Towards a Progressive Transformation of Urban Mobility

As traffic on waterways grows, the trend toward automated transportation is rapidly advancing across all sectors, particularly in river transport. The Paris 2024 Olympic Games provided an ideal platform to highlight the national river network, promote new ways to utilize waterways, and showcase innovative, low-carbon propulsion technologies.

Voies Navigables de France (VNF), the national agency tasked with advancing river transport, leveraged this momentum with support from the Transport Innovation Agency. They issued a call for projects to create demonstration boats for ferry services, integrating automated navigation and low-emission engines. BlueNav seized this significant strategic opportunity, applied, and was selected for this initiative. This technology, once tested, could be expanded to other urban areas and applications.

Project Partners and Collaborators

The BlueBoat project, led by BlueNav—a French innovator in electric motor systems for boat hybridization—brought together key partners. These include Orion Naval Engineering, a naval architecture firm based in Bordeaux and Toulon, and MOSAT / Drone Protect System, specializing in surveillance drones. Bordeaux Métropole and its transport provider, Keolis, joined the initiative with a commitment to sustainable, connected mobility. The Port of Bordeaux, which will host the demonstration boat, also played a vital role. The project’s goal is to design and build a 10-meter river boat with seating for 12 passengers, accessible to individuals with reduced mobility (PMR), powered by electric propulsion and with level 3 autonomy.

Innovative Features of the Electric, Autonomous River Shuttle

The river shuttle offers unique, cutting-edge solutions developed entirely by BlueNav:

Pre-programmed route navigation

Obstacle detection using lidar

Virtual anchor system

Automatic docking and gangway lowering

Two BlueSpin 15kW outboard electric motors