- Musk says that “safety is not the main goal” of the Roadster project
- It will be “the best of the last human-powered cars”
- The Roadster reveal is scheduled for April 1st this year
Elon Musk has publicly stated that the company is on track to unveil the next-generation Roadster on April 1st (that’s right…April Fools) this year, despite previous promises of a 2020 launch date, and then another in 2023.
But aside from the nine-year delay, Musk appeared on the Moonshots podcast with Peter Diamandis recently and said that “safety is not the main goal” of the project, reiterating the point by saying, “If you’re buying a Ferrari, safety is not the main goal,” according to Teslarati.com.
He walks back those questionable comments a bit, then goes on to say that the company will “strive not to kill anyone in this car,” but that it will be “the best of the last human-powered cars,” making the point that he still believes fully autonomous driving remains an important milestone for the company.
Just to recap, Musk has dropped some pretty wild claims about the next generation Roadster on several podcasts, including his time with Joe Rogan where he hinted that it would be able to fly.
Other “crazy tech” includes the use of some form of thruster to propel the electric sports car from 0-60mph in under a second – something no other manufacturer has been able to come close to so far.
A top speed of over 250mph was also promised, as was a frankly ridiculous 10,000Nm of torque. That is more than four times as much as Rimac Nevera develops.
But to top it all off, the divisive CEO has also hinted that it could possibly fly for short periods of time, stating on the Joe Rogan podcast that he thinks his good friend and serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and political activist Peter Thiel should be able to buy a flying car if he wants one.
Silly fuel
All the talk of a shorter 0-60 mph dash, rocket thrusters and the ability to fly may seem absurd, but until April 1st rolls around, we simply won’t know if Elon is serious or just throwing everyone off the scent like he usually does.
Electrek pointed out late last year that Tesla had filed a patent for a fan system that would be in the side skirts of an upcoming vehicle.
This is not too dissimilar to the McMurtry Spéirling, which uses a fan system to create a huge amount of downforce – so much so that it can run upside down and absolutely destroy track times.
Similarly, Musk has hinted that Tesla would take lessons from its SpaceX sister company, referring to the cold nitrogen gas altitude control system it uses. Whether a system like this would be built into the Roadster for acceleration or for, you know, actually fly has not yet been revealed.
Alas, we’ll all have to wait until April 1st and probably sit through a bizarre live-cast event before we get any closer to discovering the truth.
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