Elon Musk admitted the flying Tesla Roadster is not “safety optimized” moments after watching it rocket into the air, flip, and land at a Texas demonstration.
The Tesla CEO, 53, hosted the reveal Thursday at the SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, Texas, where a driverless prototype launched off a ramp, performed aerial maneuvers, and touched down using cold-air thrusters derived from SpaceX rocket technology. The vehicle, which Musk said uses 10 nozzles, accelerated from 0 to 60 mph in under one second during the event.
“There was no driver inside the vehicle during the demonstration,” Musk explained, “to make sure we don’t kill anyone.”
“Success is not guaranteed,” he told the crowd gathered at the facility. “I mean that. It’ll probably work, but if it doesn’t work, we’re at a safe distance.”
“Excitement is 100 percent guaranteed,” he added.
The prototype executed what Musk called a “Kickflip,” clearing five parked cars while airborne before landing safely. The car also demonstrated the ability to drive upside down, using the thrusters to maintain contact with the surface.
“Well, it worked,” Musk told attendees after the successful landing. “Phew. Flying cars are real.”
He then urged the audience to “tell people they saw it” to prove the footage was not generated by artificial intelligence.
Despite the spectacle, Musk offered a blunt assessment of the vehicle’s readiness. He described the Roadster as not necessarily “safety optimized” even as he praised the engineering behind its extraordinary capabilities.
Musk characterized the technology as “the results of what happens when you have a collaboration with the world’s best car company and the world’s best rocket company.”
The demonstration drew immediate reactions on X, the social platform Musk owns. “This is one of the top-3 craziest things I’ve ever seen,” one user wrote. Another posted: “I thought this was AI but no that’s real what the hell that’s crazy cool dude.”
“The FSD version of this will be something:) congrats!” a third comment read.
Musk responded directly to the enthusiasm: “Thanks. It’s such an honor working with incredible engineers.”
The Roadster’s path to this reveal has stretched across nearly a decade of delays since its initial announcement. Reservations first opened in 2017 with a base price of $200,000 and a limited Founders Series at $250,000, but years of postponements and the integration of SpaceX-inspired technology have clouded the final cost. Tesla has not announced pricing for the latest version.
The vehicle is expected to enter production in 2028, and Musk indicated it will be the final car Tesla designs primarily for human driving. Whether the flying capabilities will be permitted on public roads remains unresolved, with Tesla yet to clarify regulatory parameters around airborne operation.