Comment by jcheng
2 days ago
Reading https://www.tesla.com/roadster, it seems like both variants only use cold gas thrusters, and the difference is that the "normal" (lol) one only has them pointed rearwards while the flying one has them pointed in all different directions as well.
I'm sure having a cold gas thruster is going to be no problem at all for road approval. /s
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> That’s the European mind speaking.
Swipes are not allowed on HN, and comments that invoke national/regional/cultural stereotypes are particularly out of line here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
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No, that's the mind of a person speaking that is thinking of the motorcycle standing at the traffic light just behind this car. Action, reaction, that sort of thing.
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Somehow I feel like "putting highly explosive canisters all around a car" is not the best example for why regulation is bad.
Not like those genius Elon and American minds thinking "oh yeh rocket engines on cars makes a lot of sense", you're saying?
The very first cars required to have a person walking in front of it with waving a flag as a warning.
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Funnily enough, he was also the first person to get a driver's license IIRC.
>So many things that were invented in Europe couldn’t be invented today
Like leaded gazoline, whose effects can still be seen presently...
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> That’s the European mind speaking.
No. That's the road safety mind speaking.
How long is the US going to allow a car able to jump over Hostile Vehicle Mitigation barriers?
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Best guess is that it's disabled for anything but track/trick stuff. There will be some cool videos eventually showing up with tricks people pull with this. I don't know what else it's for.
I can imagine the lateral thrusters helping it turn faster on the track. Although I wonder if the extra weight is going to net out positive for lap times.
But really, a few very rich people will buy the full-rocket version to impress their friends. They'll play with them on private property.
Solo track use at that. I can't imagine that other drivers are going to be all that happy if they get hit by the exhaust from one of the thrusters in a corner.
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The crash photos are going to be Darwin-award-worthy
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it's a show it was not in any way a production car, stop being that gullible people
This is a track car for the uber wealthy. It's only rarely going to be on public roads, and it'll probably have some unlock mechanism for the truly stupid stuff. Honestly, I'm here for it. Automakers have gotten complacent. Between Chinese automakers and stunts like this, we might see the return of outrageous engineering just to prove a point.
It's for the ultra rich and a tech showcase, so probably will be classified as off-road use only.
Here's to hoping it will end up with the same reputation as the e-type.
Well he does know a few people in govt now I think? I remember a Tesla showroom on thr white house lawn not too long ago
I mean, Leno drives around with a jet engine motorcycle that can melt the guy behind him.
Yes, there are other idiots.