CEO of Tesla Elon Musk unveiled what he described as a “flying” car, equipped with thrusters, during a livestream event at his SpaceX rocket company on Thursday.
Technical and regulatory challenges have so far prevented the much-hyped flying car sector from getting off the ground.
Musk revealed Tesla’s new Roadster sports car during a launch event at a SpaceX test facility in Texas.
During the demo, which was streamed live on Tesla’s X account, the car launched from a ramp that curled so the vehicle was upside down, seemingly defying gravity by clinging to the surface before flying off the end, then rolling 180 degrees in the air to land on its wheels.
“Flying cars are real,” Musk said during the event, adding that the “success of the vehicle is not guaranteed,” but “it will probably work.”
Musk said the car will be equipped with “ultra high pressure air tanks” to propel itself into the air.
The tech billionaire described the development as “what happens when you have a collaboration with the world’s best car company and the world’s best rocket company”, referring to Tesla and SpaceX.
The vehicle would go into production in 2028, he said. Prices have not been announced.
Tesla’s website notes that the planned flight model is not approved for public road use.
Would-be buyers can make a reservation online, with a $5,000 deposit, for a non-flying model of the roadster. A limited edition Thrust model is also promised online but cannot be reserved. Tesla’s website says the Rocket model, with its “full flight system,” is offered by invitation only.
“The Roadster won’t move the volume or revenue needle, with production likely limited, and investors shouldn’t model it as a growth driver,” Wall Street analyst Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives said in a research note. “What it does is restore the Halo brand at the top of the market and shine a spotlight on the engineering stack a week before the FY3Q26 print on October 21.”
Tesla / Handout via Reuters 
It was not immediately clear what the government agency would do Monitoring of the vehicleCBS News senior transportation and national correspondent Kris Van Cleave reports. A senior US Transportation Department official expressed some skepticism to CBS News that the vehicle would actually be able to launch, but acknowledged that there was no clear answer.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration typically has regulatory oversight of vehicles but delegates safety certification to the automaker. NHTSA did not immediately respond to CBS News’ request for comment.
The Federal Aviation Administration told CBS News that the vehicle does not meet the agency’s definition of an aircraft.
The concept of flying cars is almost as old as cars themselves, with American aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss debuting the first flying car prototype in 1917. last years as electric motors and high-performance batteries have advanced.
Ives said the roadster shows how Tesla and SpaceX can collaborate. The new vehicle “puts the Tesla and SpaceX relationship on the table in a concrete way, with propulsion, pressure vessel and control hardware developed at the rocket company sitting on a Tesla product, which in our view strengthens the case for the two companies operating as an engineering platform over time,” he said.
Musk – a major GOP political donor known for a often after but sometimes tumultuous relationship with President Trump – has pushed his companies to the top of several major industries, and he continues to push into new ones.
SpaceX announced a week ago that it had agreed to buy licenses for radio airwaves that would allow its Starlink Mobile satellite business to provide cellular service in buildings, a move the company said would allow it to “become a major mobile carrier in the United States”
“This is the last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle needed for SpaceX to provide complete phone coverage in America,” Musk said in an Oct. 8 social media post.