[Video] “Leaps over five vehicles and lands” ... Tesla successfully demonstrates its flying car, the Tesla Roadster

[Financial News] Tesla unveiled a new sports car, the Roadster, equipped with gas thrusters and successfully demonstrated it leaping over five vehicles.

According to Yonhap News Agency on the 16th, Tesla demonstrated its two-seat Roadster on the 15th (local time) at SpaceX’s test site in McGregor, Texas, with CEO Elon Musk and chief designer Franz Holzhausen, among others, in attendance.
The Roadster climbed about halfway up a circular track shaped like a roller coaster, then used its thrusters to land on the ground while inverted. It then charged toward five vehicles, including a large truck, before emitting gas, leaping over them and landing.
According to Musk, the Roadster is equipped with attitude-control thrusters and a rear main thruster, allowing it to fly like a rocket. He said it also has a suction system powerful enough to hold the vehicle upside down, enabling it to take corners while hugging the ground.
Musk said, “Tesla and SpaceX engineers worked closely together to build something better than James Bond’s car.” He added that he was unsure whether a Roadster equipped with these features could legally be driven on all roads.

That day, the Roadster took 0.81 seconds to reach 60 mph (about 97 km/h) from a standstill, meeting Musk’s previously stated goal of less than one second. Its top speed is at least 230 mph (about 370 km/h), and Musk predicted that it could eventually reach speeds of Mach 0.5 or more.
For safety, the demonstration was conducted autonomously without a driver. The production vehicle, however, will be driven by a person, and Musk said the Roadster would eventually become Tesla’s only vehicle driven by a human. Mass production is scheduled to begin in 2028.
Roadster is the name of the world’s first electric sports car, which Tesla first brought to market in 2008. Musk also sent into space the Roadster he had been driving during a SpaceX rocket launch in 2018.
Tesla first unveiled the new Roadster in 2017 and began taking orders with a $50,000 deposit, but has faced criticism for not bringing it to market even nine years later.


[email protected] Seong Min-seo Reporter