Donald Trump wants flying cars. Elon Musk says they’re a stupid idea
Donald Trump released a video on Friday pushing for futuristic American cities and flying cars.
“Just as the United States led the automobile revolution over the last century, I want to make sure that America — not China — leads this air mobility revolution,” the 2024 Republican presidential candidate says in the video.
But Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has already dismissed the notion that flying cars are the future of transportation. Musk told Bloomberg back in 2017 that flying cars are a dumb idea, at least for city breaks.
“Obviously I like flying things,” he said at the time. “But it’s hard to imagine that the flying car will become a scalable solution.”
For one, he said, mid-air fender benders could throw down debris that could injure people.
“If someone doesn’t service their flying car, it could drop a hubcap and guillotine you,” he said. “Your anxiety levels won’t decrease when things that weigh a lot are floating around in your head.”
He also pointed out the noise problem that flying cars would likely cause. You would have to generate a significant downward force to keep from falling, which would mean a lot of wind and noise.
Trump shared his video titled “Quantum Leap in the American Standard of Living” on Truth Social. In it, the former and possibly future president said America had “lost courage” that it would regain under his leadership.
He said he will launch a contest to found up to 10 new “freedom cities” on vacant federal land, each about the size of Washington, DC
“We will actually build new cities in our country again,” he said. “These liberty cities will reopen borders, rekindle the American imagination, and give hundreds of thousands of young people and others, all hard-working families, a new opportunity for home ownership and indeed the American Dream.”
He continued, “Another big opportunity is in transportation. Dozens of major companies in the United States and China are striving to develop vertical takeoff and landing vehicles for families and individuals.”
The video came before Trump’s address at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday night.
Vertical take-off and landing vehicles are in various stages of development, but are not expected to become widely available anytime soon.
As the founder of The Boring Company, Musk naturally focuses more on underground transportation solutions. This company has already built a tunnel system beneath Las Vegas that currently serves various areas of the convention center, with more stops planned.
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