Tesla shows off new flying car concept

Channel: CBS News

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:04] [music]

[0:13] Well, that is Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster

[0:16] flipping and then flying using the same

[0:18] kind of thrusters that Musk uses on his

[0:21] Space X rockets. He unveiled this last

[0:24] night at an event in front of an

[0:25] audience of Tesla fans and media. Tesla

[0:28] says the Roadster can go from 0 to 60

[0:30] mph in less than a second. This was the

[0:33] reaction from the announcers and Musk

[0:36] after the demonstration.

[0:38] >> Flying cars are real.

[0:40] >> Yeah. Well, uh, you know, a friend of

[0:42] mine, Peter Thiel, once said that the

[0:45] future promised us flying cars, but

[0:46] instead we got 140 characters. Well, not

[0:49] anymore.

[0:50] Then they showed off another stunt with

[0:52] the Roadster where it flipped over and

[0:54] flew over five Tesla cars and one Tesla

[0:57] truck with Musk bragging the car could

[1:00] fly even further than that. Now, you

[1:02] might be wondering about regulations.

[1:04] And as far as regulations for a flying

[1:06] car go, the National Highway Traffic

[1:09] Safety Administration responded with

[1:10] this. While the vehicle may appear to

[1:13] defy the laws of physics, the

[1:14] manufacturer must ensure that it does

[1:17] not defy applicable federal motor

[1:19] vehicle safety standards and drivers

[1:21] must obey all local traffic laws. They

[1:23] also said they would continue to monitor

[1:26] the situation. Those stunts left a lot

[1:27] of people asking, "Is that real? How is

[1:30] this happening? What does this mean?"

[1:32] So, we brought in Chris Rosales, who was

[1:34] at the event. He's the editor at the car

[1:36] shopping website Edmonds. So Chris, uh,

[1:39] you saw this happen, so you can tell us

[1:42] that this is real. First impressions

[1:44] just from seeing this in person.

[1:47] >> Oh, I mean, it was nuts. Uh, it was real

[1:50] indeed. Uh, if if it wasn't, it would

[1:52] have been an insane trick. Uh, it did

[1:54] indeed jump. It did indeed fly off the

[1:56] ramp. Uh, and I got to see the ramp up

[1:58] close shortly after. And and it it's all

[2:00] seemed legit. Uh, and yeah, nuts is the

[2:03] only word I could use to describe it.

[2:05] >> Yeah. As far as your first impressions

[2:07] go, was it a bit of a shock? Were you

[2:09] prepared for this actually happening?

[2:11] Like what was going through your mind

[2:12] when you actually saw these demos?

[2:15] >> Uh, absolutely not prepared. Uh, I did

[2:17] hear whispers the entire leadup to the

[2:19] event. You know, there's a couple

[2:20] thousand people there. Uh, a lot of

[2:22] different rumors, but everyone said,

[2:24] "This thing's going to fly." Uh, but I

[2:26] didn't expect it to drive off the ramp.

[2:28] Uh, and then also jump over a

[2:30] semi-truck. Uh, that's definitely wasn't

[2:32] on my list of things I thought I'd see.

[2:34] wasn't on my list either. So, we know

[2:36] that the production for the car is

[2:37] actually not scheduled to start until

[2:39] 2028 and then it's going to be very

[2:41] expensive. So, this is just not a car

[2:42] that you're going to see everywhere.

[2:45] Tesla has gotten a lot of criticism for

[2:47] overpromising and underdelivering in

[2:50] terms of the vehicle itself, in terms of

[2:51] when people can expect it, and in terms

[2:53] of price uh infamously now. Do you think

[2:57] we are going to see this actually on the

[3:00] road anytime soon or what are your

[3:02] predictions as far as that goes?

[3:04] >> I do think based on what I saw on the

[3:06] event that one of the cars, there was

[3:08] three cars there. One of the cars looked

[3:10] like it would be produced. It did have

[3:12] real tires on it. It looked like it had

[3:13] real car parts on it, so to speak. The

[3:16] other two cars, the flying cars, they

[3:18] were definitely stunt cars, I would say,

[3:20] at best. Now Tesla is saying they're

[3:22] going to sell the rocket car to an

[3:24] exclusive group of customers. It doesn't

[3:27] sound like they're going to be legal for

[3:28] the road. So, but as far as an actual

[3:31] roadgoing roadster, I do think there's a

[3:32] pretty solid chance of seeing that.

[3:34] >> Yeah. Tesla's brand baked into the

[3:36] brand's ethos is doing things that

[3:38] people have never seen before. And I

[3:40] feel like this certainly qualifies for

[3:41] that. So, you do think that this flying

[3:43] car is more stunt than practical reality

[3:46] for our future?

[3:48] >> Oh, absolutely. I mean, what where are

[3:51] you gonna use that? I mean, it's fun.

[3:52] That's the whole point of Tesla, but uh

[3:55] as far as what we're gonna actually see

[3:56] on the road, it'll probably be a very

[3:57] fast EV supercar, but not a flying one.

[4:00] >> Yeah, I saw a comment that said, "Can't

[4:02] wait to try this on the 405 or something

[4:04] to that effect, the freeway in Los

[4:06] Angeles." All right, Chris Rosales,

[4:07] thanks for breaking it down for us. We

[4:09] appreciate it. Thank you.