There’s been a flying car in existence for as long as suckers have been waiting for the second-generation Tesla Roadster.
And it’s just as useless.
Late last week, Alef Aeronautics shared a video of its own electric flying car. The strange, floating black car hovered over a Tesla Roadster and Tesla Cybertruck, looking quite drone-like in its behavior.
“Welcome, Tesla, to the flying car race; we’ve been here alone for 11 years,” said Alef CEO Jim Dukhovny.
And for those 11 years, I’ve never heard of this car. Because we don’t need flying cars.
Alef Model Zero Ultralight logs 1,000th flight to spite Tesla Roadster
The tongue-in-cheek video, which calls the Tesla Roadster the “second flying car in history,” is apparently the 1,000th time the Model Zero Ultralight has flown.
On the official website, the vehicle is described as: “Designed to drive on the street, take off vertically and fly overhead above traffic.” A video above this shows the vehicle taking flight. It teeters a bit, but eventually lifts off and appears to smoothly float forward.
The Model Zero Ultralight lifts off using electric propulsion rather than the Tesla Roadster’s alleged SpaceX thrusters. It also has a super lightweight body with tons of airflow, since the entire top of the vehicle appears to be mesh-like rather than solid. While I previously said the Roadster reveal was CGI or pre-recorded, it has now come out that the Tesla Roadster stunt was done with a shell car. Scientist Yann LeCun recently explained why the Tesla Roadster would be unable to use compressed air to thrust an actual car, since it’d be far too heavy and wouldn’t really function with those large compressed-air tanks inside.
It was just a stunt. I wouldn’t even call the Roadster the “second flying car in history” since we haven’t seen it fly yet.
But again, this is just another “look how advanced we are” moment from Tesla. The concept of a flying car is largely silly in 2026. Not only is it not really all that viable, but it’s not road legal. There’s nothing you can really do with a flying car right now. Most people just want to save money on gas.
If everyone truly wanted flying cars – and aren’t just obsessing over Elon Musk – why has nobody cared about the Alef Model Zero Ultralight? It’s actually far beyond the Roadster’s capabilities. It’s been around for as long as we’ve been getting empty promises and delays from Musk. Yet nobody has really given a crap.
Well, aside from the 3,600 people who pre-ordered the model at $299,999 each. But even Alef has said of these early models, which are being worked on right now: “The purpose of testing flying cars in the real-world environment, under very controlled conditions.”
If you don’t care if a flying car looks like a car, there are other “flying cars” almost ready for a world without any real infrastructure for them. China is hoping to get that infrastructure up and running. They’re always decades ahead. But over in the United States, I’m not too sure what people will do with the Model Zero Ultralight. Even Alef doesn’t know.
Because nobody needs a flying car. Nobody is even asking for it.
A study from 2017 claimed that two-thirds of Americans wanted a flying car. Yet, none of these people pre-ordered the Model Zero Ultralight for some reason. It’s almost like they don’t want to pay $200,000-plus for a useless gag vehicle.
And the few weirdos that do want one, there’s not much to do with a flying car. Right now, the U.S. isn’t even sure who would be overseeing the Roadster if it actually flew.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told CBS: “While the vehicle may appear to defy the laws of physics, the manufacturer must ensure that it does not defy applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and drivers must obey all local traffic laws. NHTSA will continue to monitor the situation and won’t hesitate to act to protect the driving public.”
The Federal Aviation Administration added: “The Tesla vehicle does not meet the FAA definition of an aircraft.”
Either way, production will ramp up in 2027. This would still be ahead of the Tesla Roadster’s 2028 production date. And most of the Roadsters in production won’t be able to fly. That’s for “invited” buyers only. And those ultra fans may not even get what they pre-ordered.
