Elon Musk Teases Flying Car in Don Lemon Interview: 'Jetsons Vibes'

Billionaire Elon Musk has teased the possibility of producing a commercially-available flying car as the next generation of Tesla vehicles.

In an interview with journalist Don Lemon released in full on Monday morning, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was asked about the new model of the Roadster—the car manufacturer's original design—which is due to be released next year.

"Look, I don't want to give away much more than what I've said publicly, except that the Roadster will be a collaboration between SpaceX and Tesla—so you can expect some rocket-y stuff there," he said.

Asked by Lemon if it could be a flying car, Musk responded: "Maybe," before waggling his head and laughing. "It's not out of the question. I've got to reserve the cool stuff for when we actually unveil it, but it's going to be really cool; it's going to have some rocket technology in it."

He added: "I think, really, the only way to do something that's cooler than the Cybertruck is to combine SpaceX and Tesla technology to create something that's not ever really a car."

"Then what would it be?" Lemon asked.

"Something that's never existed before," Musk said, before agreeing with Lemon that it would have "Jetsons vibes," a reference to the space age Hanna-Barbera cartoon which features flying cars.

The Context:

Tesla would not be the first company to attempt to build a commercially viable flying car. Several start-ups have been making use of advances in electric vehicle technology in recent years to design vehicles that hope to live up to science fiction.

Most recently, San Mateo, California-based start-up Alef previously told Newsweek its prototype—which received Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) approval for testing last year, and operates using a hollow body and internal rotors—was in the works. The company said pre-orders for the $300,000 vehicle had surged since the start of 2023.

However, no company has so far been able to secure regulatory approval for a flying road car, which would come with safety requirements and considerations that ground-based vehicles do not have to meet. For Tesla to bring a flying car to market, it would need FAA certification under the agency's adapted regulatory framework.

What We Know:

Musk has previously teased the collaboration between his two companies in a June 2018 post on X, formerly Twitter—a platform which he now also owns.

At the time, he said the electric sports car would have a SpaceX-designed optional package that would include around "10 small rocket thrusters arranged seamlessly around [the] car" that would "dramatically improve acceleration, top speed, braking & cornering. Maybe they will even allow a Tesla to fly..."

In 2019, he wrote that the new model would be able to go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 2.1 seconds "before adding [the] rocket thruster option."

Then late last month, Musk wrote on X that he had "radically increased the design goals for the new Tesla Roadster," adding: "There will never be another car like this, if you could even call it a car."

What's Next?

Musk has indicated that the new Roadster design will be unveiled by the end of the year, and that the company would aim to ship the new model to customers in 2025.

Update 3/18/24, 9:15 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include further information.