Flying-Car Startup Alef Hits 1,000th Flight — and Trolls Tesla: “We’ve Been Here Alone for 11 Years”

Alef Aeronautics picked a pointed way to mark a milestone. On October 15, 2026 — the same day Tesla unveiled its “flying” Roadster — the Bay Area flying-car startup released video showing its Model A prototype lifting off vertically and gliding over a row of parked vehicles, including a Tesla Roadster and a Tesla Cybertruck. The company said the clip captured its 1,000th logged flight, and it used the occasion to needle the world’s most famous EV maker directly.

“Welcome, Tesla, to the flying car race. We’ve been here alone for 11 years,” CEO Jim Dukhovny said in comments distributed with the footage. The company also declared that the Tesla Roadster had become the “second” flying car in history, following Alef — a promotional jab, but one that highlights a genuine engineering distinction: Alef is pursuing a dual-mode road vehicle capable of sustained vertical takeoff and forward flight on distributed electric propulsion, while Tesla’s demonstration showed brief, controlled aerial maneuvers on cold-gas thrusters.

Alef’s pitch is substantive. The electric, all-wheel-drive Model A is designed to take off vertically and transition to forward flight, spreading thrust across multiple motors rather than relying on a single rotor or jet. The company says the lighter design accommodates a full-vehicle ballistic parachute. Commercially, Alef reports more than 3,600 pre-orders valued at roughly $1 billion, with initial deliveries to a limited group of early buyers expected by the end of 2026 and production ramping in 2027. The starting price is $299,999.

Dukhovny argues competition benefits the whole category: it validates the market, creates a distinct flying-car category for regulators to engage with, attracts investors, and gives everyone a benchmark. Tesla’s demo pulled flying cars into the mainstream news cycle; Alef wants the industry — and the headlines — to remember who was flying first.