Amandeep SuterTesla, the American electric vehicle manufacturer is one of the most popular automobile companies in the world today. While it’s just more than a decade old, Tesla is already counted as one of the most valuable automobile companies. In fact, as of today, Tesla is worth more than a lot of leading car companies such as Fiat, an Italian company which more than a century old, and the Japanese company, Mitsubishi.
One can estimate how quickly the clean energy vehicle company is turning into a giant by the fact that the stock price soared by nearly 700%. Tesla’s CEO and owner, Elon Musk, who owns 20% of the EV company recently surpassed Amazon boss, Jeff Bezos to become the richest man in the world as the value of Tesla stocks surged massively.
The Tesla CEO has already stated that he wants to enhance the second-generation Tesla Roadster by adding a rocket thruster package. If Tesla and Musk can execute their vision of Tesla roadster, something which they almost always have. Then this second-generation EV will be the fastest car on the road. According to Tesla, this supercar will be capable of reaching 0 to 60 mph in less than 2 seconds.
But now, the SpaceX boss also wants his car to hover too, using the thrusters. Yes, you read it right!
Elon Musk recently told this to Joe Rogan, in the latest episode of the podcast, “Joe Rogan Experience”.
“I want it to hover, and I was trying to figure out how to make this thing hover without, you know, killing people. Maybe it can hover like a meter above the ground or something like that. If you plummet it’ll blow out the suspension but you’re not gonna die.” – Elon Musk
While it might sound crazy to you, but you should also remember that these are the words of a man who has a history of achieving the unbelievable.
But it will also be something that will bother the safety regulators. An occurrence that Tesla seems to be getting into a lot, lately. For instance, with its latest Model X Suv and Model S Sedan, Tesla introduced the U-shaped yoke steering wheel. Something for which National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was not prepared for.
American Comedian Joe Rogan also brought up the topic in his podcast and enquired about the same from Elon Musk. He asked whether the U-Shaped steering wheel was legal or not. In its response, Musk said that one can also see it being used in Formula One. But Rogan reasoned by saying that both are very different, as F-1 doesn’t involve driving on the highways. And that people might enjoy resting their hands on the top of the steering wheel.
To this, Elon Musk came up with his classic response –
“Well, Autopilot is getting good enough that you won’t need to drive most of the time. I find you can rest your hand on your knee… it works great.”
It will be interesting to witness such revolutionary ideas on the road. Let’s see if Elon Musk and his team can actually execute this idea by the next year! Until then, stay tuned.