Tesla Launches Flying Car - The All New Roadster

The New Tesla Roadster.
Image: Tesla

October 15th, 2026 is the day we finally got a first look at a flying car, that actually looks like a car first, but can also fly without any fancy transformations. It's just ready to fly, presumably 'at the push of a button and you're flying', ready to fly? I don't know the actual control system.

Elon Musk launched the new electric Tesla Roadster with a live demo, using a version of the car that was remotely controlled - since they did show the demo car had 'Starman' inside - or a version of him - they launched the original Starman into space in a Tesla Roadster (the previous model), a few years back.

I'm not going to go over the car's specs in great detail. I'll just mention highlights.

It has a fan system that literally sucks air from under the car allowing it to stick to the road, and take corners, faster than regular cars. The suction is so strong the car can literally drive up a wall and onto the roof... completely upside down. (spider car, spider car...). 

Millennium Falcon parked on the
side of a Star Destroyer

There's some speculation that the demo of driving up a wall was done with magnets, but okay, no one is likely wanting to drive up walls. Although it could, one day, be fun to fly up to a sky scraper and park on the wall like the Millennium Falcon parked on the side of a Star Destroyer in The Empire Strikes Back. 

More interestingly, for me, is that this car can actually fly, using compressed air, cold thruster jet engines - ten of them. Four on the back, four underneath, and one on each side. This configuration allows it to not just fly, but to also do flips. In flight terms I think it's actually performing a barrel roll... maybe?

During the demo they showed the car drive up to a selection of parked Tesla vehicles and, without even a pause, the car shot up into the air and flew over them, while flipping a full 360 degrees mid flight, before landing on the other side.

Still from the Tesla Roadster event video just as the car is leaning into a flip mid flight.

You can see the full event launch and all the demonstrations in the video below. If you just want to see the car in action there's a full replay of all the demos at the end (in the last five minutes or so).

Roadster Event

As someone who has been keeping an eye on the development of flying cars, this is a big swing by Tesla. It's by far the most impressive vehicle I've seen that really tries to deliver on the dream of flying cars.

I'm super impressed that the jet thrusters use compressed air but, at the same time, that surely means the car is only good for very short flights, right? You're not flying this thing on a day trip, three towns over and back?

The Roadster itself, which is due to go into production in 2028 (if you can believe Elon at this point when it comes to production deadlines), will come in three formats. The stock version with fans, the fast version with fans and rear thrusters, and the invitation only, all fans, all thrusters, flying version.

Real Pod Racers.

At this point it's pretty safe to assume the flying version won't be legal to fly during regular driving on public roads. However it could be a contender for competing in what Real Pod Racers are trying to build with their pod racer flying cars.

I wouldn't call the Tesla Roadster Flying car a home run in the technology of developing flying cars but, as a concept car, it does offer a different flying mechanism from drone style propellers currently favored, that is highly maneuverable. 

Maybe there's some way the fans on the car can be rerouted to channel air through the thrusters creating an unlimited air supply?

I don't know. I'm clearly not an engineer or flying car developer - they just seem to be very powerful fans wasted on 'gripping the road'. A feature that is not needed when you can fly.

I don't expect to see much more from the flying Tesla unless they really are developing it in a more serious way. At this stage it's a very good 'proof of concept', and will hopefully inspire other flying car developers, in a similar way to how the original Tesla humanoid robots inspired an entire industry into fast tracking its development.

Tesla Roadster. Image: Tesla.