Alef's flying car passes over parked Teslas

News.com.au's clip shows the prototype lifting off vertically, while viewers ask what it can do on the road.

Channel: news.com.au Story of October 18, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 185,318 views a day, 36 times a normal first day on this channel (5,226).

Decade-Old flying car company mocks Tesla by flying over its models

The parked cars stay firmly on the ground as a dark prototype rises from a takeoff pad in a California field. Alef Aeronautics has chosen a literal way to respond to Tesla's airborne Roadster demonstration: flying over its vehicles.

News.com.au's Short drew about 185,000 views in its first day, roughly thirty-five times its usual opening for the format. The footage is a promotional demonstration supplied by Alef via Storyful, not an independent road or flight test.

Filmed in San Mateo, it shows the craft lifting off vertically, moving slowly across the landscape and passing above a row of parked cars. A downward-facing camera gives a view of the vehicles beneath it before the prototype returns to the grass. Nobody speaks or appears on camera.

Alef says it timed the release to coincide with Tesla's demonstration. The company also draws a technical distinction: its vertical takeoff uses distributed electric propulsion, while it says the Roadster is scheduled to use thrusters.

The comments focus less on the corporate teasing than on what qualifies as a flying car. Several viewers compare the craft to a drone with a car body; others ask to see it driving. That part isn't in this clip: Alef shows the takeoff, the flight and the landing, but no journey on wheels.

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The numbers

The flying-car clip had an unusually strong first day for a news.com.au Short.

the video's first day

usual first day here

5,226

this video

185,318

subscribers

1,400,000

▲ 10,000 in the last 7 days

total views

1,498,319,351

views per day

1,904,996

typical day: 811,004

the video

views

185,360

likes

2,865

comments

923

days online

1

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

People

1,550,000

LBC

1,540,000

TalkTV

1,470,000

news.com.au

1,400,000

Times Radio

1,310,000

Times Now World

1,290,000

As of October 18, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.