Tesla CEO Elon Musk has presented a new Roadster sports car that he says can fly, showing it off at a livestreamed launch event at a SpaceX test facility in Texas on Thursday.
The vehicle, fitted with thrusters, was shown in a demonstration streamed on Tesla’s X account. It shot off a steep ramp into the air and came down on its wheels.
“Flying cars are real,” Musk declared at the event.
He said the car uses “ultra high-pressure air tanks” to lift itself off the ground. He however admitted that the project’s “success is not guaranteed,” adding that “it will probably work.”
Musk described the car as the product of a partnership between “the world’s best car company and the world’s best rocket company,” referring to Tesla and SpaceX.
According to him, the vehicle will go into production in 2028.
Flying cars have long been hyped but have yet to take off commercially, largely because of technical and regulatory hurdles. The idea is not new: American aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss built the first flying car prototype in 1917. Interest in workable designs has grown in recent years, however, with advances in electric motors and high-performance batteries.
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