Elon Musk has unveiled a new version of Tesla’s Roadster electric sports car, which he says will be the world’s first flying car.
Elon Musk has revealed Tesla’s latest model, which he claims will be the world’s first flying car, using technology from his aerospace company SpaceX to “basically fly like a rocket”. The billionaire, who hosted a demonstration of the Tesla Roadster 2 at the SpaceX rocket development and testing facility in Texas, said the sports car could go from 0 to 60mph in a record time of less than a second and had thrusters. A video of the event shows the Roadster, which he said was controlled remotely “to make sure we don’t kill anyone”, driving up a curved ramp using suction to grip upside down, before using thrusters to flip, fly and land.
Later in the demonstration the Roadster is seen using the jets to leap over a line of Tesla’s existing models and then accelerate to 60mph in record time. Speaking at the event on Thursday, Musk said: “Flying cars are real. It’s got altitude controls, thrusters and main thrusters in the rear. So it can basically fly like a rocket, it can do rolls, crazy gymnastics.”