Elon Musk told Joe Rogan on his podcast he hopes to unveil a flying car “before the end of the year.” It was an interesting announcement to make, as Rogan also asked Musk about the long-delayed second-gen Tesla Roadster. Tesla unveiled a new Roadster in 2017 and had plans to start deliveries in 2020, but production was delayed several times.
Avoiding that conversation, the Tesla CEO suddenly started talking about wanting the vehicle to fly. After vague answers and musing, he eventually said: “My friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars.”
He claimed the vehicle Tesla is supposedly working on contains “crazy, crazy technology.” Musk said he wasn’t sure it’s technically a car but that “it looks like a car.”
Musk has been talking about flying cars since 2014. Given his optimistic take on development timelines, that’s a good 10 years of talk so far. Give it perhaps another 10?
— Mat Smith
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