Is a video that shows a Tesla Roadster flying off the roof of a building in the middle of a city real? No, that's not true: An online tool determined the video was AI-generated. The footage does not match the video released of the Tesla Roadster flying car at SpaceX's McGregor, Texas test site.
The video appeared in a post (archived here) by the @Stellarixorine account on X on Oct. 20, 2026. It read:
Another rooftop. Another insane Tesla Roadster test. 😳
This is what a screenshot from the video looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @Stellarixorine on X.)
This is what the video looked like on X at the time of writing:
Another rooftop. Another insane Tesla Roadster test. 😳 https://t.co/UOnPThNMUU
-- Stellarix (@Stellarixorine) October 20, 2026
This is what a screenshot of the car flying in the video looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @Stellarixorine on X.)
Tesla revealed a prototype of the flying Tesla Roadster at the SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas on Oct. 15, 2026, stating the vehicle has "active aerodynamics, a multi-mode suction system & cold-gas thrusters," on its YouTube account (archived here). The Tesla Roadster did not fly around tall buildings in a city. The footage posted on X does not match video posted by Tesla or news outlets at the time of publication.
The New York Times (archived here) covered the flying car, showing video of the Tesla Roadster flying after driving up a ramp and flying through the air, then landing safely on the ground.
Online AI detection tool Hive Moderation found that the video posted on X was 100% likely to have been generated by AI:
(Image source: Hive Moderation.)
Sightengine, another AI detection tool, determined the video had a 99% likelihood to be generated using AI.
(Image source: Sightengine.)
