Elon Musk surprised us on Thursday, unveiling a second-generation Roadster at Tesla’s electric semi-truck event.
The sports car has already generated a lot of buzz in the auto industry for its record-breaking performance specs. Its max speed of over 250mph and 0-to-60 time of 1.9 seconds make it the fastest production vehicle ever. If that wasn’t surprising enough, those numbers apply to the base model Roadster.
Now we have a better idea of what Musk has planned for future high-performance models. The eccentric CEO teased an upgraded Roadster with a limited ability to fly using “rocket tech.” Yes, we’re still talking about a street legal car here, not a project from Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX.
Not saying the next gen Roadster special upgrade package *will* definitely enable it to fly short hops, but maybe …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2017
Certainly possible. Just a question of safety. Rocket tech applied to a car opens up revolutionary possibilities.
The business magnate says a Roadster capable of flying “short hops” is “certainly possible” but stresses its viability comes down to safety. The tweet lies in contrast to Musk’s previous statements about flying cars. In April, he took a swipe at Uber’s flying car project. “Obviously, I like flying things. But it’s difficult to imagine the flying car becoming a scalable solution,” he said.
Musk has a mixed record of staying true to his word. He has no problems following through on his more outlandish ideas, like digging a tunnel under Los Angeles or recycling rockets. However, several of his projects have been delayed well beyond their scheduled release.
This tweet sounds especially far-fetched, so we’re pretty sure he’s serious about it.