The Flying Roadster Is Coming. Is Nyanga Ready?

On 15 October, I sat glued to my screen watching Tesla unveil its new Roadster. I have waited years for this car, and it did not disappoint. It launched off a ramp, flipped in the air like a skateboard doing a kickflip, and then did something I never thought I would see a car do: it lifted itself straight up.

Tesla says the top version, called “Rocket”, uses thrusters borrowed from rocket technology, reaches 60 mph in under 0.6 seconds and tops 230 mph. Even the “basic” Performance model claims under 1.6 seconds. Tesla says production starts in 2028.

I’ll be honest: I want one. Who wouldn’t? But as I watched that car rise vertically, my mind did not stay in California. It came straight home to Nyanga, and that is where the excitement turned into something closer to fear.

Technology Is Moving Faster Than We Are

Not long ago, a car was a car. You learned to drive, you passed your test at VID, you put up your provisional plates, and you were set for life. The rules of the road barely changed in decades.

Now technology moves so fast that we are forced to keep updating ourselves: our phones, our apps, our skills and soon, it seems, our road rules. The question is whether our laws, our councils and our communities can update as fast as the machines.

All That Work on Our Speed Humps

Here in Nyanga, we have worked hard to make our roads safer. The Nyanga Residents and Ratepayers Association (NURRA), Nyanga Rural District Council and other stakeholders came together to put speed humps at accident hot spots. It took meetings, money, patience and community spirit, and it has made a difference.

We know the cost of speed on our roads. Nyanga still remembers the bus disaster of 1991, when speed on our winding mountain roads cost the lives of 89 people, most of them schoolchildren. Just last year, a kombi and a car collided head-on on the Mutare–Nyanga road near Pafiwa, killing two people.

Now imagine a car that does not care about speed humps at all, because, with the tap of a switch, it simply flies over them.

The Shortcut to Rochdale

Picture this. A Roadster owner in Nyangani Park Extension is late for a meeting in Rochdale. Why follow the road when you can fly? Up and over Nyangani Park Extension, across Nyangani Park and straight down into Rochdale. No traffic, no humps, no corners. Just a straight line through the sky.

Now picture the same idea in the wrong hands. Our mushika-shika drivers already know every back road and footpath for avoiding a roadblock. Give them a car that flies, and the roadblock becomes a joke. The same goes for those who move illegal goods: when the shortest route is through the air, who will be waiting at the other end?

Road Licence, Plus Air Licence?

Then there is the paperwork. Today we pay ZINARA for a road licence. In this new future, will we also pay for an air licence? Will VID test learner drivers on hovering, take-off and landing? Will the provisional test now include “reverse parking on a rooftop”?

And our road signs: will “Give Way” and “Stop” be joined by “No Flying Zone”, “Mind the Power Lines” and “Minimum Altitude 10 Metres”? If our laws and signs aren’t updated, we will be writing the same old tests for a completely new world.

A News Bulletin I Never Want to Hear

I can almost hear it now on Nyangani FM:

“Two vehicles were involved in a head-on collision above the Government Area this morning. Police say both drivers were flying the shortest route to Rochdale and did not see each other until it was too late…”

It sounds funny at first. Then it doesn’t.

Parking at JT Masamvu

Let me end on a lighter picture, one that made me laugh out loud when it came to me.

A shiny Roadster is parked in front of the JT Masamvu building. The owner walks into a shop and asks for something, and the shopkeeper says: “Sorry, it’s out of stock here, but you’ll get it at our other shop behind this building, near the council workshop.”

In the old days, you would walk round the block. Our Roadster owner simply gets in, presses a button, rises into the air and flies across the building to the other shop. Hey!

But this is Nyanga. Our mist can come down in minutes and swallow the whole town. Visibility goes from clear to zero before you have finished your tea. Last month, the country was shocked by the helicopter crash near Marondera that claimed businessman Wicknell Chivayo, his wife and three others. Investigators are still working out what happened, but the pilot reportedly reported bad weather before the crash. It is a sobering reminder that even experienced pilots in proper aircraft can be caught out by the weather. Now imagine an ordinary driver, with no flight training, lifting off into Nyanga mist.

Exciting and Scary at the Same Time

So here is where I stand. The flying Roadster is a technology marvel, and part of me cannot wait for 2028. It shows how quickly the impossible becomes possible.

But technology on its own does not make a better world. Rules, training, infrastructure and responsibility do. Before cars like this arrive on, or above, our roads, we will need:

• new laws for flying vehicles, from licences and insurance to no-fly zones over towns, schools and homes
• training and testing that matches the technology
• updated signs, markings and enforcement, because a speed hump cannot stop a car in the air
• community voices like NURRA’s at the table early, not after the first disaster

The future is coming faster than we think. It is both exciting and scary, and I would rather we prepare for it now than learn the hard way.

As for me, I am still waiting for my Roadster. I just hope the mist stays away on the day I take it for a spin.