Why Tesla's new flying car likely won't be seen in Australia any time soon

By his own admission, Elon Musk's new flying road rocket is "not necessarily a safety-optimised car".

Tesla recently unveiled a redesigned "Roadster" after nearly a decade of delays, but experts remain sceptical that it will be roadworthy in Australia.

Using SpaceX technology, the souped-up sports car features built-in thrusters and a fan suction system capable of generating up to 2Gs of downforce.

It lets the vehicle drive upside down, jump over other cars and perform mid-air rolls, acrobatics that would not look out of place in a sci-fi flick.

The car can accelerate from zero to 97 kilometres an hour in less than a second.

"It can basically fly like a rocket. It can do rolls; it can do like crazy gymnastics. Whatever you want really," Mr Musk said.

"This will be an actual car that's on the roads. I'm not sure it's necessarily legal in all jurisdictions."

Tesla's reservation page for the Roadster shows three variants, including the "Rocket", which it says is equipped with a "full flight system" that cannot be purchased without an invite.

Production won't ramp up until 2028, but it has already got experts scratching their heads.

Would we ever see this on Australian roads?

Experts predict the Tesla Roadster's safety risks and regulatory issues will likely prevent it from ever driving down Australian roads.

QUT's Centre for Robotics director, Michael Milford, called the unveiling a "very obvious and admittedly slick publicity stunt", adding that it was several major transformations away from actual safe deployment.

"We would likely have helicopter-like flying car transport take off, go to altitude, fly, and land well before we had a ground car that can fly [or] flip. Even that is a huge uncertainty as to whether that will be feasible in any near time frame, especially in heavily populated areas," Professor Milford said.

Milad Haghani, an engineering expert at the University of Melbourne, believed it to be nothing more than a technology showcase.

"That suggests that at this stage, it's more of a showcase of a technology with no guarantee of scaling up, or not even a pathway envisioned for it," Dr Haghani said.

"The other thing is you can't expect the regulator to jump on the matter and start regulating right now, because it doesn't exist."

What are the safety risks?

Current road infrastructure does not account for flying cars, so letting them share the road with grounded traffic poses a complex problem, Professor Milford said.

"Flying cars in close proximity to the ground and everything that entails is in some respects the most complex problem because the whole journey is spent in close proximity to squashy, unpredictable people as well as other vehicles," he said.

"The advantage of the more conventional flying car type approach is the majority of the journey is separated from these entities."

Professor Milford likened Tesla's latest experiment to that of the company's bullet-proof Cybertruck experiment.

"[An] impressive stunt, but also of very limited actual utility for now," he said.

Will other companies follow suit?

Dr Haghani said stunts like Tesla's could lead to a technological race, and perhaps the starting flags have already been waved.

California-based Alef Aeronautics revealed its own flying car concept in February 2025, while China has begun experimenting with flying taxis.

Dr Haghani said he could see companies wanting to outdo each other in developing privately-owned airborne cars, but added there was a "regulatory void".

"It is one thing to have these flying cars as taxis on specific corridors operated by a company and especially on approved routes. But it is a completely different matter to have that as a privately owned vehicle," he said.

"Whether this becomes a viable transport option … I don't think it marks as big as an advancement as automation or even electrification of cars."

Professor Milford said he would be surprised to see other manufacturers widely pursuing this technology, especially since it lacked any real-world use.

"Tesla can do this technically because of the close SpaceX connection; most don't have access [to] such a leading space tech company. It would probably be a significant R&D investment for them to spool something like this up," he said.