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Tesla makes cars that fly? [video]

46 points merinpapz10 1 hour ago 21 comments

__m 1 hour ago | parent

Cool marketing gimmick. The suction is cool though, let’s see how it will do on the track. Basically your own Brabham BT46, very cool

dboreham 56 minutes ago | parent

We say McMurtry Spéirling this century :)

trombuance 18 minutes ago | parent

I thought so at first but then Musk mentioned the thrusters can recharge themselves with pumps in the car. So it will actually be something owners can use repeatedly without needing complicated refills from Tesla service.

Not that I'd ever spend that much money on a car or need this at all, but for people who buy luxury vehicles I can see it. Definitely something we've never had in car history.

bashdragon 1 hour ago | parent

No way this is road legal in any country lmao

meitham 28 minutes ago | parent

Very useful in England’s countryside, imagine all the puddles you can jump over! Eliminate these passing bays when cars can jump over each other in the narrow lanes!

feverzsj 1 hour ago | parent

Maybe the most useless feature for a car. I'd imagine you need some commercial performance license to actually own this feature.

simondotau 55 minutes ago | parent

Also true of being able to go over 90 MPH, despite many sports/premium cars touting an ability to reach a top speed above 150 MPH.

Some cars come with "Donut Mode" or drift modes. Donuts and drifting are definitely not road legal actions. These, and many other capabilities of sports cars, are obviously for track use only. These Roadster gimmicks are no different.

F7F7F7 53 minutes ago | parent

150mph is the "gentleman's agreement" speed. If a car can do 150 chances are it can do 200.

Gathering6678 10 minutes ago | parent

I don't think this is true: drag increases with the square of velocity, so that's close to double the drag from 150 to 200, and I believe somewhere above 60/70 mph, aerodynamic drag starts to overtake road resistance as the main friction source, i.e. it takes significantly more horsepower to be able to do 200 than 150.

godwinson__4-8 23 minutes ago | parent

Cars seem so full of gimmicky features these days. A friend's car yesterday stopped us when exiting because it thought we left behind belongings in the back seat - it was just an empty package. That was not something I would have ever thought a car would flag. It's not that fancy of a car (entry level SUV) but it is fairly new, it just kind of bothered me.

One reason I hope Slate does well - newer cars have too much useless tech across the board. At least with a sports car the gimmicks are part of the appeal. Entry level new cars should be simpler, modular, and cheaper. Just let me drive and stop trying to be so helpful.

xp84 18 minutes ago | parent

The back seat thing is probably the things cars have been adding to try to combat those freak memory accidents when parents forgot to drop the baby off at daycare and left them in the car in the sun all day with disastrous consequences.

thordenmark 55 minutes ago | parent

And it begins. I can't wait to hear all the ways people will poo poo this incredible tech tomorrow.

mrheosuper 4 minutes ago | parent

Imagine driving on highway and suddenly a Tesla car fall on your car and kill the entire family

BatFastard 28 minutes ago | parent

Did you see 0 to 60 in 0.81 second, now THAT is flying!

treetalker 21 minutes ago | parent

I recall that about 8 (10?) years ago the “Roadster 2” was advertised. Am I correct that that was repeatedly delayed and never delivered?

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

bronlund 16 minutes ago | parent

Finally. We've been waiting for flying cars for a while now!

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.

anuptalwalkar 3 minutes ago | parent

I have no words. Its like Elon asked Grok where can I take my business, and it suggested combine rockets and cars.