Elon Musk makes concerning safety admission moments before launching Tesla's 'flying car'

Elon Musk has just unveiled his latest version of the Tesla Roadster with a shocking demonstration that shows the car seemingly flying over a line of parked vehicles.

However, just moments before launching the new ‘flying car’, the tech mogul made a worrying safety admission.

The stunt was performed without a driver inside the vehicle, which Musk explained was to ‘make sure we don’t kill anyone’.

The Tesla boss went on to admit: “Success is not guaranteed. I mean that. It’ll probably work, but if it doesn’t work, we’re at a safe distance.”

He added: “Excitement is 100% guaranteed.”

During the demonstration, which took place on Thursday (October 15) at the SpaceX facility in Texas, the car used the firm’s space tech to launch into the air, flip and briefly hover before landing with the help of air jets.

The Tesla vehicle was able to go from 0 to 60 mph in a record time of less than a second, although Musk noted that the car was not necessarily ‘safety optimized’.

Addressing the crowd who watched the stunt, he said: “Well, it worked. Phew. Flying cars are real.”

Flying Tesla car uses nozzles to take flight

According to Musk, having a live crowd was necessary to prove that the event was real and not a creation of AI.

A ‘kickflip’ was also demonstrated which showed the car fly over five parked cars and flip over before landing on the other side.

Musk described the technology of the vehicle, which uses 10 nozzles, as ‘the results of what happens when you have a collaboration with the world’s best car company and the world’s best rocket company’.

Although it remains to be seen whether the car will be able to travel long distances in the air or if it will stick to brief periods of airtime.

Many people have since taken to social media to share their own reactions to the clip, with one user writing on X, formerly Twitter: “This is one of the top-3 craziest things I’ve ever seen.”

Another said: “I thought this was AI but no that’s real what the hell that’s crazy cool dude.”

And a third added: “The FSD version of this will be something:) congrats!”

In response, Musk replied: “Thanks. It’s such an honor working with incredible engineers.”

The flying car is expected to go into production in 2028, although a price for the vehicle has not yet been announced.