Elon Musk has told Joe Rogan that he hopes to unveil a flying car “before the end of the year.” As Gizmodo has reported, Rogan asked Musk about about the long-delayed second-gen Tesla Roadster in his show, when the Tesla CEO suddenly started talking about wanting the vehicle to fly. If you’ll recall, Tesla unveiled a new Roadster in 2017 and had plans to start deliveries in 2020, but its production got delayed again and again. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently tweeted that he’d been having difficulties getting a refund on the $50,000 deposit he made for one way back in 2018. But instead of talking in depth about Roadster’s status, Musk talked about getting close to an “unforgettable” product demo of a prototype instead.
He was giving Rogan vague answers in the interview, but he eventually said: “Well, you know, my friend Peter Thiel, once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars. I mean, I think if Peter wants a flying car, we should be able to buy one” He didn’t want to divulge all the details in the show, but he claimed that the vehicle Tesla is supposedly working on contains “crazy, crazy technology.” Musk said he wasn’t sure it’s a car but that “it loos like a car.” He didn’t answer when Rogan asked if it had “retractable wings” or mentioned if the vehicle would be VTOL, or a Vertical Take-off and Landing, aircraft.
Musk has been talking about developing flying cars as early as 2014, as Gizmodo notes. However, take note that the CEO is rather infamous for being overly optimistic and ambitious with his timelines, not just for the automaker but also for his other companies like SpaceX. Take for example, the aforementioned Roadster, which is yet to go into production, and the SpaceX Falcon Heavy whose first launch didn’t happen until five years later than he predicted. That said, it’s also possible for Tesla to unveil a prototype that would still have to go through massive changes and improvements if and when it becomes ready for production.
