Breaking / Live: Tesla is revealing the next-generation Roadster live Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, from a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas. Roughly 15–20 minutes into the show, Engadget and BGR's liveblogs — watching the official stream — reported the car driving up a large ramp, holding inverted, then using jets/thrusters to manage a descent and landing. A later pass, per Engadget, jumped a line of other Teslas, flipped mid-air, and landed.
Tesla's own @Tesla account framed the moment on X: in 2008 the Roadster proved an electric car could be "fast, sexy & worth wanting"; today it is "the best of the last human-driven cars." Elon Musk quote-posted the stream with "Tesla x SpaceX" and added, "Success is not certain, but excitement is."
What the live demos showed
Engadget's Cherlynn Low described the car stopping mid-ramp while perpendicular to the ground, spinning off the top while upside down, then firing jets to slow and manage the descent "like a space vehicle." The same liveblog quoted on-stream talk of a suction system that keeps the car attached when inverted — with the line "This car really sucks." BGR's live coverage likewise reported a fan-suction / downforce system plus SpaceX thruster tech, and a car that "brilliantly descend[ed] via rocket thrusters."
Reporters said an Optimus robot was in the driver's seat and that the stunts looked programmed rather than manually driven for the demo. Musk, per Engadget, said hovering upside down is not something most people need, but the same technology is meant to enable extreme cornering. He also said, "This is not necessarily a safety-optimized car," and teased that the ramp run was "not the last thing you'll see."
Musk and Tesla set the stakes
On stage, Engadget quoted Musk telling the crowd they needed a real audience so people would believe the demo was not AI or SI, and that "You're gonna see some crazy stuff tonight." He also said success was not guaranteed and that if it did not work, "we're at a safe distance" — matching his earlier X line that excitement was certain even if success was not.
Engadget further reported Musk saying that eventually the Roadster will be the only manually driven car Tesla makes, lining up with Tesla's "last human-driven cars" post on X during the stream.
The numbers Tesla gave
Later in the show, Tesla ran a live acceleration test: 0-60 mph in 0.81 seconds, per BGR and Sawyer Merritt, with top speed listed as over 230 mph (details). The closing slides put production in 2028. Tesla still did not announce a price or a delivery date (what's still unanswered). After the stream, Tesla posted three configurations on X — Performance, Thrust and Rocket — with Rocket seating one and Tesla saying it can fly; full config targets and the >300-mile range bound are in the specs story, with exterior/interior in the design breakdown. The stream ended with a final landing demo at about 6:25 p.m. PT.
Watch: how to watch the live stream and replay. Pre-event context for reservation holders: what was confirmed before tonight.