Electric boat startup Navier has landed the first official pilot program for its hydrofoiling watercraft, partnering with Stripe to bring passengers from San Francisco’s outskirts to the downtown area.
Stripe will pay Navier to shuttle employees from Larkspur, where a number of them are concentrated, to its office near Oyster Point. An hour’s drive at the best of times, and passing right through central SF, this is not a pleasant commute by car. Half an hour by boat — especially an electric hydrofoiling boat, which in my experience is quite a smooth, quiet ride — would be infinitely preferable.
Navier’s six-passenger N30, which made its official debut in 2022 after an accelerated development period, isn’t going to make a big dent in traffic on its own, of course. Even if the company were to add the five-seven more vessels it plans to as they are built, that’s only a handful of cars off the road.