It's an incredible engineering achievement to build in massive fans and rocket engines into a high performance car. It's truly wild.

It's being sold in two modes. One with cold gas (no combustion) seemingly just for extra forwards acceleration (no flying) and one with real combustion rocket engines, the latter was in the video and is "invite only".

Wild that they devoted so much effort to an economically completely infeasible model. I wonder if the combustion version will even break 3 figures sales.

Even just the cold gas variant seems like a nightmare for production, there's a high pressure COPV in that thing and that's gonna make crashes much more.. exciting, and Tesla doesn't have a great record anyways. But very few of these are ever getting sold anyways.

But can we talk about the just casually driving straight vertical or sticking to the ceiling? I didn't think that would be technically possible for a 1000kg+ car with probably at least 2" of ground clearance.

There's presumably very limited stores of compressed gas, so you might get one hop or a couple 0-60 boosts per charge. But with electric fans, suction is a feature with much longer duration (minutes?), so you could feasibly do the batman driving on the tunnel ceiling past traffic trick.

https://youtu.be/JdkIOhFmbKI

Back of the fag pack, let’s say it is light for an electric car and weights 1000kg. I’ll also go on a limb and guess the air flow is actually subsonic - 200m/s would make it 0.6 Ma (still insanely fast!). Even then, that requires 50 kg of air every second. Or 40 m^3. Using everyone’s favorite metric, this empties an Olympic swimming pool in 1 minute. It also requires a MW of power. I mean… that’s a lot??? Though admittedly, only about as much as accelerating 0-60 in 1 sec (50% of that in fact). So the flying would draw as much power as accelerating at full throttle.

Power requirements would go down a lot with slower exhaust speed, but then you need to shift more fluid. 40 m^3 already seems like a lot to me.

I get it’s a neat little demo and they have to get SpaceX into the picture somehow, but still I don’t understand how it’s supposed to add up. Also, what do I know - just a humble physicist.

This is sort of like demonstrating a car that softens the asphalt in front of it with lasers to get a better grip; difficult, technically impressive, and zero chance that it will ever be allowed on a public road.

Edit: According to this Motor Trend article, it uses a big carbon-fiber pressure vessel at 5500psi, so basically an enormous fragile bomb. And the one that did all the stunts had two of the pressure vessels which would have filled most of the interior.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-roadster-thrust-system...

That said, the production issues with the Cybertruck mean you’d be a fool to reserve one of these. Let others do it, find out how late it arrives, what glued panels fall off at speed and wait for the inevitable recalls. Tesla has torched their engineering reputation lately and this page is making a lot of promises about revolutionary things.

- Performance: road ready, seats two, active aero and a “multi-mode suction system.” 0-60 mph in under 1.6 seconds. Available by reservation.

- Thrust: race ready, seats two, adds rear-mounted cold-gas thrusters. 0-60 mph in under 0.9 seconds. Limited release.

- Rocket: seats one, adds thrusters around the perimeter of the car for upward and rotational movement. 0-60 mph in under 0.59 seconds and a top speed of over 230 mph. Invite only.

Per Electrek: https://electrek.co/2026/10/15/tesla-unveils-cyberfied-new-r...

Every time Tesla's VP of vehicle engineering [0] explains the Engineering of the product by stating that they are "breaking the laws of physics", everything he says is losing a bit of credibility...

[0] https://youtu.be/22rvpUecLts?t=791

The problem with the demo is that it was vapourware. Period, full stop. It is not the car they are selling to us, and they haven't even begun making them. I am personally not a fan of pure concept products that exist only to polish the company’s crown.

Steve Jobs said that "Real artists ship," because the act of shipping is the act of making the incredibly difficult and important decisions that manage the enormous number of constraints that go into the actual product.

If people like concept cars that don't have to actually work or meet a specific price point, fine. It is entertainment, nothing wrong with that. But I am not and will not be impressed until, like Apple, the thing they show on stage is so far along that you can be expected to buy one within weeks, not years.

I am not telling anyone how to judge this. But by my very old-school standards, vapourware sucks.

Car looks half decent too.

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/tesla-spac...

Ask yourself who would see the benefit of a vehicle that can jump over obstacles, other dangers or other cars?

Obstacles including barricades, flooded roads, tank traps, rivers, fences and burning cars. Dangers might include IEDs, mines, destroyed bridges, barbed wire, stinger strips, active munitions being fired at it, etc.

Even without such dangers, jumping over moving cars would be useful in pursuits where getting in front of a target gives an advantage.

And the extra mobility would be useful in humanitarian and disaster applications where getting to and from those in need in a timely fashion may save lives.

Drawing a parallel, manufacturers presented rollable mobile devices already a decade ago, modular devices with replaceable components, etc. The archives of Nokia and Ericsson (and others) are full with these kinds of products. Car manufacturers did the same. They presented a vision, not a commitment to a product because there is much more to this than just "being able" to build it.

But it was never economically feasible or sensible to do this at SUCH a scale of engineering cost, and presented with the unrelenting confidence of "this will be yours in two years", despite all the fundamental roadblocks still to overcome.

It appears that this is the most disrupting aspect of their presentations: People are not used to being presented a "vision" of such a scale with so little regards for practical execution.

They like the journey they are taken on, and willingly fill all gaps and doubts with "they wouldn't present this if they didn't think of everything already"

For Eg, we have self driving trucks. Nikola admits prototype was rolling downhill in promotional video: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/09/nikola-admits-prototype...

Tesla’s History of Faking Demonstration Videos: https://dawnproject.com/teslas-history-of-faking-demonstrati...

This is probably just to hype up the stock. The stock is down 5% (5 days), up 1% (1 month), down ~7% (6 months), down ~20% YTD, down ~16% (1 year). It has a PE of 336 and dwindling YOY sales. Tesla’s U.S. vehicle sales fell approximately 14% to 20% year-over-year through the first three quarters of 2026. Rest of the world, Tesla is not competitive and will probably go down rapidly soon.

Remember when they sent one into space? Same thing, everyone in the world is talking about it without spending a single cent in ads.

Doesn’t mean we’re getting flying cars.

I'm not saying that there aren't lower hanging fruit reasons why they wouldn't make more of those, but you can see how the guidance necessary to make this move the way that it does could be dual use.

This is not and will probably never be practical, but it's something that's never really been done before, and for that alone I kinda like it.

Other cars, if you have to ask where the government will allow you to drive it, you can't afford it.

(still not buying a tesla thooughbeit)

With high interest rate and tight money supply, this could get them a few billion dollars of 'customer financing'.

**

Side note, as I was looking for the right stream, youtube gave me a link to a different deep fake 'Musk' stream where he extolled virtues of sending him money ( https://roadster-tesla.com/#participate ). Everything has changed man. I am sure the scammer actually got some people.

(Calling it a "roadster" is cute, but this has nothing in common with a Boxster or Miata. If anything, the ICE analogue would be muscle cars.)

Because there are no real unique driving characteristics, the only engineering you can compete with is raw speed or price. That and crazy gimmicks.

https://news.dupontregistry.com/blogs/ford-news/whatever-hap...

Is it going to be fun and engaging to drive? Absolutely not. It doesn’t even have a steering wheel.

Finally, a vehicle that’s perfect for the CEO in your life who wants to upload his brain to a data center powered by the body heat of his employees hooked up to the pods from The Matrix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBMU6l6GsdM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC97wdQOmfI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_Kill_Vehicle

My opinion is that the car is conceptually good but requires regulations. As much as I hate regulations, I don't want no flying cars on my head.

Rocket trim is not street legal.

2: I still want a topless Tesla that could be a good daily driver; an SL63 competitor basically. So, I'm sad.

My primary scepticism is how much the prototype weighs, and whether it can still jump with 2 passengers + 1000kg of batteries inside.

also wonder how comfy that is? i kind of welcome it tho!

I think there is a more rational explanation. Tesla sales have slowed, other companies are catching up, and if it weren't for import issues, Chinese cars would be eating Tesla's breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yet Tesla is trading at a 330 P/E and Musk has to do something to make it seem like Tesla is still light-years ahead of everyone else and just wait, that 330 P/E will be justified any quarter now. Just like shooting a roadster into deep space was just a PR stunt, this is a PR stunt to boost the brand with no actual market relevance.

Also a massive feat of engineering, congrats to their team.

https://casupercharging.com/

I kind of concluded that they really don't want us messing around up in the air - for reasons. Now, combined with self-driving capabilities, maybe it's back on the table :)

That being said, I suspect that they way do this, as shown in the demo, is sustainable for seconds only. And if I understood it correctly, the system is not really for flight, but for correcting momentum while driving in turns and such.

I kind of concluded that they really don't want us messing around up in the air - for reasons. Now, combined with self-driving capabilities, maybe it's back on the table :)

That being said, I suspect that they way do this, as shown in the demo, is sustainable for seconds only. And if I understood it correctly, the system is not really for flight, but for correcting momentum while driving in turns and such.

A lot of public funds go into these companies and it just feels like they are playing around with toys instead advancing humanity. I sometimes wonder if we are not allocating resources very efficiently.

I'll be listening even more closely to his ideas from now on, even when they defy the "common sense filter" we adults tend to have.

I am skeptical that this feature will prove to be much more than a publicity stunt, especially since the availability of these models will be so limited.

closed tab. thanks.

It's very impressive. Not useful, but impressive.

It must be incredibly difficult to keep the car stable while mid-air at low speeds, I suspect it wouldn't look that "elegant"...

Also amazing stupidity of people believing anything close to this will hit the streets. Lies and lies for a decade, and now after a flashy demo it is again "2028".

I don't think there's any doubt in anyone's mind that it'll never make production like this, but what I see as being demonstrated is a suborbital lander/off-world ground transport concept that can work in low gravity environments etc. This will aid autonomous delivery vehicles etc to be dropped from low orbit and find their own landing sites, and then drive to location.

I wonder how many maimed kerbals are stranded around the space X facility while testing this.

A few considerations, just my own thoughts.

1) I would bet that the actual car shown in the demo weights less than what will eventually be sold to the public. I am not an expert, but the way in which the car reacted to the air boosts suggests a relatively "lightweight" vehicle. Plus, I would imagine perhaps a smaller battery (again, for demo purposes).

2) It is a nice "exercise" as a game, or an expensive hobby for billionaires. I doubt, as Elon hinted, that using these thrusters will be allowed on public roads. Perhaps just on circuits?

3) Overall, Elon said that Tesla's strategy will no longer be about cars, but about robots and AI, and then proceeds to show a car that will cost billions to develop, and might not be the commercial success that justifies the investment.

4) Twitter (now X), Tesla, SpaceX... things are moving, tricks are being shown, and who knows, perhaps next year everything will be merged under ElonX, and he will finally be happy.

The thrusters were able to cushion a fall.

That seems useful in ruining the ending of Thelma and Louise, but isn’t really a flying car.

Cool stunt car though

hmmmm. spacex-tesla merger signalling?

The thing that they showed off isn't something that they could legally sell, it would basically be a bomb. Also, the battery pack that would go in the car would be so large that they couldn't do the stunts they showed in their drone vehicle.

Are we not calling an obvious stock pumping charade what it is out of some sense of politeness?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Draco

Dunno. Looks like it jumps. Fying seems to require some degree of control over direction but I'm just a gravity-impaired bidep.

I have no reason to believe this isn't another Deplorean.

The art of deliberately guiding or diverting an audience's attention away from a secret action (such as sleight of hand) so the trick can happen unnoticed. Instead of forcing the audience to look away crudely, good misdirection makes the audience want to look at something else naturally.

> Tesla Sales Slump in Third Quarter

https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/tesla-sales-fell-in-third...

Tesla should be sued into oblivion over "full self driving", but after that, if you believe this nonsense and buy one that's on you.

Also "Beyond The Limits of Physics"... would any actual engineers at Tesla/SpaceX agree with that marketing statement?

Just like we will have 1 million robotaxis on the streets by 2021?

EDIT: wow it really can fly, that is crazy

Like the Cybertruck, this is just the Musk "fuck you, get out of my way" worldview realised as metal and plastic.

I'm so glad Elon exists. He must have spent over $100 million to build the flying variant with no hope of ever profiting off it. I can't imagine any other CEO ever doing that.

Fun demo, never will see the road. There's a billion ways this can kill scores of people instantly.

My sense is that this is just more Elon Musk bullshit that will never materialize.

Literally no proof of this working in real world conditions.

I call bull.

It appears like they always did a barrel-roll because the car is simply not stable after take-off...

Uh what? Rodney Mullen invented the kickflip

Reminds me of this https://youtu.be/LC97wdQOmfI

It just means you can do jumps and stunts programmed into the vehicle at the push of a button with zero skill at being a stunt driver.

The Dukes of Hazzard had to do that without the thrusters.

Can't wait to see how people kill themselves and other people with those things by being stupid...

Hopefully that shit gets blocked by the DOT and kept off public roads--which is probably the goal to get a bunch of drooling simps outraged over "government overreach" keeping them away from their "flying cars".

>This provides enough suction to hold the vehicle upside down, even when stationary.

Neat car though.

this site just toast

Will the frame itself hold up?

* The Fastest Maze-Solving Competition On Earth - YouTube // https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMQbHMgK2rw

An innovative way to make some whoop-de-dooping billionaires with extra cash to spare land upside down on their rooves.

This one is a hard-top super-coupe and I recommend calling it the "Cyberwedge"

Looks like it truly is a K shaped economy. Flying cars for 1% and loans for the rest

still tries to murder passengers jumping across traffic at shadows

good luck with anything Musk, you are the beta tester, if you die they'll debug it, eventually

How delusional are people? The emperor is not wearing clothes y'all.

Whatever you think about these advancements (like you could marvel at Nazi inventions), make no mistake. Musk and his Tesla should get fucked.

I don't see how we can discuss this demo without acknowledging that fact as well.

[1]: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-burn...

European or Japanese cars all day.

What has HN become - just endless anti-tech hate, downstream from idiotic TikTok politics.

Is it the moderation system that amplifies this nonsense here?

If those cold-air thrusters are getting commoditized, the real discussion here should be around what could be built around them. How to HACK them.

Reddit exists for this other nonsense pile on.

Almost all the comments here are just the most generically negative I have ever seen on HN, with just general grumpiness everywhere.

This car is an incredible engineering achievement and a completely unexpected reveal.

The car clearly does not have enough momentum to go on the ramp all the way upside-down, yet it miraculously does not fall.

This is just amazing, congrats to everyone who worked on this.

From an engineering pov, it must be the highlight of someone's life and a massive amount of fun to be able to work on a product like this.

But the real question: does the roadster come with SpaceX thrusters? If so, they have my attention. Otherwise, boring, even more boring than the boring company. False advertising too. People need to demand that SpaceX thrusters are now an option if only to reboot the Dukes of Hazzard except with a smart car.

Edit: Hi there Elon fanboys! Hope that all meat diet is working out for you. Have you considered taking up smoking knowing full well that AI will cure cancer?

Bullshit, no it can't.

> Advanced cold-gas thrusters use all-electric actuators to offer precise thrust, completing micro adjustments within a fraction of a second. This helps stabilize the vehicle in flight.

In flight? What? Did I miss the joke, or what? It's a fucking car... The image even shows it hovering off the ground. How is this not blatant false advertising?

ETA: okay, skimmed some of the livestream. These is absolutely no way that any of these features will ever be part of a production model. People get serious whiplash injuries just from being rear-ended at low speed. What do they think is going to happen to the occupant when they tell their car to jump over a semi and do a fucking barrel roll? Seriously, what are we doing here?

The somber music, darkness, 3 awkward people presenting it with 0 presentational skills. Just a random comparison - if Steve Jobs were to present this, he would've killed it. I was watching the demo, impressed by the car so much, but I couldn't help but feel irritated at how badly is was presented. The choice or music, lights, everything.

And because he's the richest man in the world, he just does it for fun. Nerd Cool for sure! But given the state of the world, absolutely horrible..