Comment by tgtweak
1 day ago
That is incorrect - there are three versions slated, one with no cold gas nozzles, one with forward-only (the 4 in the rear) and a tank in the rear "acceleration", one with 10 nozzles (4 under, 2 side, 4 rear) and a tank in the rear and passenger seat "flight". None of the variants use rocket fuel or other ignited propellent, they're all just compressed gas release systems.
This is explained in the deep dive video with Lars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22rvpUecLts
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I felt the same way when they were calling the Segway skateboards "hoverboards" and referring to back to the future.
I'm not sure I'd agree that "Traditional wheel powered transportation vehicle" is in the same category as "Useless hovering car with giant dangerous high-pressure nitrogen tank that can cause serious bodily injury to pedestrians and occupants"
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It's basically the batmobile from Dark Knight. A small bridge jumper. Still pretty cool
Didn’t that also actually work? IIRC they wanted to develop something that could realistically do it. This seems to confirm: https://batmobilehistory.com/tumbler-batmobile.php
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>A small bridge jumper.
Or an easier way to escape rioters blocking the road and threatening your life.
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I guess any LPG-installed car is also a "bomb" by your definition?
my quick search says LPG-installed cars run at 5-10 bar. the roadster apparently at 350 bar. by comparison one is on the scale of car tires and the other is like 35x that.
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Do you feel the same way about every Red Bull stunt?
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The point is that a car flying for 10 seconds is nowhere near the Jetsons car.
We actually do already have Jetsons style flying cars - those things that look kind of like big drones are basically that, and those are actually practical.
Forget the comparison to the Jetsons if it upsets you, let's just compare to actual flying vehicles.
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Now do the definition of AGI.
It doesn't have to be pressurized at all times!
You could only pressurize it right before your jumping stunt.
Highly practical. Basically a clown car.
Honey, did you remember to also charge the compressed gas tank on the Tesla?
Sorry, I'll start it from the app!
chug chug chug chug
From the interview, they says it takes 6-8 hours to fill and you get 1 "launch" before its depleted in under a second.
This is just gooning with a drivetrain.
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You know the force from these thrusters is going to injure a pedestrian and the whole idea will be scrapped.
They can’t even build a proper Mini anymore because the hood was so low it elked pedestrians face first into the windshield.
If the flying version is ever sold (unlikely) it will be subject to flying thing rules (FAA). Best case it would be like buying a used F1 car from Ferrari. They retain possession and you get to occasionally fly in on the private jet and drive it under supervision on a racetrack.
It’s cool tech demo. I’m not expecting to see one fly in private hands ever.
People saying the flying features are wildly impractical, potentially dangerous, and a waste of space, weight and money which make it worse at being a car are correct.
However, those assuming it will never be sold or even legal to be sold may not be aware there already exist astronomically expensive, completely impractical, quite unsafe, track-only hypercars which are not legal to drive on any street.
As for the technical legality of the 'flying' features ask your LLM about: the Ground-Effect & "Sustained Flight" Jurisdictional Boundary in FAA / NHTSA regs, Off-Road Track-Only exemptions from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, and PHMSA / DOT-SP (Special Permit) authorization for consumer COPV pressure vessels. Making the "hopping" version for sale is a wildly impractical marketing stunt but they can probably do it, although it'll cost far more and ship much later than whatever they promise and will sell at most a few dozen.
If you can sustain this for 1-2 seconds, its not flying anyway.
It's never going to be street legal, and I doubt there was ever a plan to try.
The cybertruck is so dangerous to pedestrians it would never pass homologation pretty much anywhere outside of USA, and yet it sells there. If the roadster is sold anywhere it will be there too.