Electric car company Tesla has unveiled a new version of its Roadster car that can briefly fly through the air.
The car was shown off at a special event at SpaceX’s rocket testing site in Texas, USA, on Thursday. It uses special thrusters, a bit like tiny rocket engines, along with a suction system, to make short jumps into the air and even spin while airborne.
Tesla boss Elon Musk posted online: “Turns out the future does have flying cars.” He said the demonstration was done automatically for safety, and that this will be the only Tesla car people actually drive themselves, since the rest of the company’s cars are self-driving.
The Roadster can also speed from a standstill to 96.6km/h in under a second, which is faster than most race cars.
Some experts have pointed out that the flying feature probably won’t be allowed on public roads anytime soon. One law professor said it could take governments a long time to approve, and that for now, it’s really just a one-off demonstration car rather than something people could buy and drive.
Tesla says ordinary versions of the car could go into production in 2028, though no price has been announced yet.
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