Amphibious Aythya is a boat and a car!
by Jeni Bone on 15 Oct 2012
Aythya 1 SW
OK James Bond aspirants, take a look at the latest design out of the Janne Leppänen studio - the Aythya amphibious concept vehicle - ideal for quick escapes, beating the commuter traffic or just showing off.
The Aythya is a two seater vehicle which features an ingenious wheel system which allows it to operate on both land and water.
The Aythya was primarily conceived as a rental vehicle, one which could be hired out at vacation hot spots to tourists who want to explore the surrounding land and sea.
When the Aythya is being used on land the wheels are perfectly round and more or less just like normal car tires - other than the fact they're made up of 10 individual sections!
When the Aythya enters the water, the car automatically senses the terrain change and the sections of the wheel open out to form small paddles, effectively turning the Aythya into a small paddle boat.
Powering the Aythya are four electric motors, one for each wheel.
The Aythya was designed by Janne Leppänen, Tuulia Miettinen, Roope Kolu, Jaap van der Voort, and Tiemen Stelwagen. Janne Leppänen previously developed the ARK Solar Boat concept. The name comes from Finnish mythology, where the world is created from the Aythya´s egg (Aythya = duck).
'So our vision was, that this concept creates a whole new world of cars,'says its creator.
More at http://janneleppanen.daportfolio.com/
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