Watch: Elon Musk’s ‘flying Tesla’ takes off, flips mid-air and lands safely in demo
Watch: Elon Musk’s ‘flying Tesla’ takes off, flips mid-air and lands safely in demo
Tesla has unveiled a redesigned version of its next-generation Roadster electric sports car, featuring built-in thrusters and flying-car-like manoeuvres, nearly nine years after first presenting the prototype. The company said production of the two-seater vehicle would begin in 2028.
The demonstration, held at a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas, on Thursday, showed the vehicle driving upside down on a ramp using a suction system, turning in mid-air and
The legality and practical use of these features on public roads remained unclear.
Musk said the Roadster could accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than one
Tesla Roadster’s long-awaited return
deliveries in 2020. The latest announcement pushes the expected production timeline to
Musk had previously said the four-seat Roadster would offer a range of 620 miles (1,000 km) on a single charge.
Despite its ambitious performance targets, Musk has played down the vehicle’s potential contribution to Tesla’s finances. In 2023, he described the project as a “small potato
However, analysts see the Roadster as an opportunity for Tesla to showcase its
“Tesla does not currently have a halo car, or high-performance luxury vehicle designed to showcase an automaker’s best engineering and technology. The Roadster will be Tesla’s
Goldstein expects Tesla to sell around 2,000 Roadsters annually, a small fraction of the 1.6 million vehicles the company sold last year.
The original Roadster, launched in 2008 and sold until 2012, was Tesla’s first electric vehicle. Built on a Lotus Elise chassis, it helped challenge perceptions about the
performance capabilities of electric cars.
Tesla subsequently expanded its lineup with the Model S and Model 3 sedans and the Model X and Model Y SUVs.
The latest Roadster reveal comes as the company increasingly shifts its focus towards artificial intelligence, autonomous driving and robotics, alongside its traditional electric vehicle business.
This year, Tesla stopped selling the Model S and Model X to free up production capacity for its Optimus humanoid robots. The company has also introduced the Cybercab, a two-seat robotaxi designed without conventional manual driving controls.
The Roadster’s return therefore comes at a time when Tesla is seeking to demonstrate its technological ambitions beyond conventional electric vehicles.
- Upside-Down Driving: The remotely operated, driverless vehicle climbed a towering, curved ramp and drove entirely upside down using an under-car suction system. [1, 2, 3]
- The “Kick Flip”: As it launched off the end of the ramp, built-in SpaceX-developed cold-gas thrusters fired high-pressure air jets. [1, 2, 3]
- Safe Landing: The thrusters allowed the sports car to rotate smoothly in mid-air, correct its orientation, and execute a controlled landing back on the ground. [1, 2, 3]