“RSVP: A New Benchmark in EV Performance + Autonomy” was the subject of the email from the Chinese household-appliance company, Dreame. In the email was a photo promising absolutely ludicrous performance — 0 to 100 km/h in 0.9 seconds.
“That’s impossible unless this is a rocket car,” I thought. Well, it turns out… it’s a rocket car. But also possibly a bullshit car that will never come to market or, at least, never come to the United States. We sent an engineer to check it out.
Here’s some of the email The Autopian received from the team handling comms for Dreame, an appliance company that sells fancy (and from what I’ve heard, decent) hairdryers and vacuums and air purifiers at the well-known Century City Mall in Los Angeles, among other places:
On April 27 in San Francisco, Dreame, a brand known for its smart home appliances, will flip the script and unveil a new high-performance concept vehicle that pushes beyond conventional EV and autonomy benchmarks – both in acceleration and sensing capabilities.We’re keeping full details under embargo until the event, but at a high level, the vehicle introduces:
[…]
Attending media will also have the opportunity to connect on-site with Steve Wozniak and Dwyane Wade, who will be participating in additional sessions.
Hot damn. The Woz is going to be there! And Dwyane Wade, GOAT-James’ sidekick from his Miami heat days. Very cool.
As the invitation was last minute at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, we decided to send an engineer-reader. He’s currently at the event checking out the “Nebula NEXT 01 JET Edition,” which is presumably named for the jet of combustion gases coming from the rocket engines in the rear.
Here are some initial photos from our enginerd on the ground: 
The thing looks snazzy! And given that China is way ahead of the U.S. when it comes to electric cars, you’d think this could be legit! Let’s check out the rockets in the back:
Hot diggidy dog! That explains the claimed 0-100km/h time of 0.9 seconds.
Our enginerd sent me some notes from the event:
- Brake by wire
- Ditches hydraulic fluid brakes
- Fully dry EMV brakes
- Battery: 550km range
- Solid state battery
- 450Wh/kg. Goal: 800Wh/kg
- “Metis” AI agent for each vehicle
- AI works with all other Dreame devices at your home
- Announced release of DHX1 LiDAR system
“This is much more about the AI interface than the vehicle itself. The proposed AI tech really is impressive (immersive — Each car will learn about its owner, including driving habits, routes, stops, it will intercept will all the Dreame suite they have in their home), but I doubt this car ever sees production in this form,” he told me, before showing me a green car, the Nebula Next 01, which was shown at CES this January.
Then there’s the ride height.
“They said it has electromechanical suspension. Why wouldn’t they lower it for a more aggressive look? Another feather in the BS hat.”
I could go either way on the ride height; I don’t think it looks too bad.
Our frustrated engineer wanted more details, because that’s what engineers do. “They just went ‘it has two rockets that produce 100kN of thrust and propel the car to 100kph in 0.9s’ then nothing more about it. But TONS more info about the AI interface, lidar set up, etc … No mention of the motor specs, rocket specs, handling specs… the things that a certain subset of every automotive enthusiast cares about.”
There is this slide, for what it’s worth:
Our engineer says the car feels like a “red herring to get eyes on Dreame’s 3-day tech expo.” And that’s honestly kind of the vibe I got from the press release (see below), which is why I didn’t send any of our regular staffers, but rather someone local.
That’s really this event in a nutshell. Dreame wants to show off its tech and get people talking about them, so they’ve got Steve Wozniak, Dwyane Wade, and all sorts of other celebs and influences and members of the media attending this three-day event, which is more about their AI capabilities and their core products than about the cars — core products like robotic pool cleaners, robotic lawn mowers, personal care air conditioner, wet dry vacuum, home vacuums, robot laundry, refrigerator, window cleaning robot, home environmental appliances, a “BIG ASS TV” (per our engineer), a fitness ring, a watch, smart glasses, phones, and more.
Anyway, it does look like a fun time, and it looks like Dreame spared no expense.
Looks like an impressive venue, impressive names, and impressive AI-appliance plans, even if the new “Nebula NEXT 01 JET Edition” wasn’t particularly impressive, especially to an engineer asked to figure out how production-feasible the car is.
[Ed note: Those are nice-looking toothbrushes. I kinda wanna test drive one of those – MH]
But hey, even if our enginerd isn’t feeling the car, what was his first press event like?
“The presentations are very nice and well thought out. I wouldn’t call it fancy, but purposeful,” he said…it was memorable for sure.”
What do I think? Well, I’ve attended a Faraday Future event, so I know what substanceless hype is, but Dreame is a real company, and Car News China makes it seem like there’s potential, writing:
On April 23, Dreame officials shared that they entered into a cooperation with the University of California, Berkley. It is a top-ranked public research university with a story dating back to 1868. The two sides will join their research resources to accelerate the development of AI-based vehicle autonomous control systems. Dreame has a long-term goal of creating an AI that is capable of controlling the entire car from perception and decision-making to chassis and powertrain.
[…]
On March 12, Dreame also revealed the Nebula Next 01X crossover with electromagnetic suspension and a range-extended powertrain option. Other features are two chips with a peak computing power of 2,000 TOPS and electric mechanical braking (EMB). It was said to begin mass production in 2027.
China is at the cutting edge of EV development, so even if these two concepts were just design-bucks, there’s a possibility that Dreame could either build them or simply use them to showcase tech they’ll sell to someone else.
Or they’re just complete vaporware there to get people talking about the brand. Who the heck knows.
All photos: The Autopian
Hilarious. Those nozzles look like the sort of things a kid draws – a mishmash of a bunch of different technologies they don’t understand but that look badass. Those nozzles are not from a rocket, but from a jet engine. They’ve got variable-geometry “turkey feathers” that suggest afterburners as well as the tailcone that is typically part of the turbine assembly – as opposed to an actual rocket that is just a plain nozzle with no central suspended assembly.
Ha, I was thinking the same thing! Just like the jet engine in the 1989 Batmobile, that Bats somehow sits in the middle of.
…and shields that come out of nowhere
When I saw that picture, I commented in the Autopian Slack that I haven’t seen “rockets” that fake since I last saw a Batmobile prop car.
For reference, this is what a 100kN thrust solid rocket motor looks like when firing:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0ygr__tOf-Q
Good luck getting that homologated.
All I got was a scam infomercial from that link
Should be a direct link to “Skyroot’s Vikram-1 Mission Milestone: Kalam-100 Static Fire Test” on YouTube. Perhaps you got a shitty YouTube ad?
Imagine taking it in for a smog test. lol
““ It doesn’t look to me like they’re real rockets, just that they’re fab’d to look like rockets … They’re saying they’re functional, but it’s hard to see how that’s possible given the presentation here.”
Well that’s just because you don’t understand… they’re using the same rocket technology as was in the Oldsmobile Rocket 88.
AND DON’T TELL ME THAT CAR DIDN’T HAVE REAL ROCKETS IN IT!!!
Exactly! Then explain why the “Turbo Rocket Fluid” used in the 1962–1963 Oldsmobile Jetfire is 50% methanol!
Why is that girl trying to brush her hair with a toothbrush?
So, it looks like this will have enough thrust to jump the shark.
Cue Féng qi.
“The Darwin Awards – The Next Chapter”
It’s an urban legend that The Darwin Award (given to the person who finds the most creative way to remove themselves from the gene pool) was originally started when someone thought it would be a good idea to strap some ‘borrowed” JATO solid rocket engine boosters to their sedan and go for a speed run in the desert.
The driver began his run, building up speed, and then he hit the button….
…the JATOs, Jet-Assisted Take-Off solid rocket boosters are used by the air force to help those large transports and old bombers get off the ground, those JATO rocket motors ignited and instead of just giving the driver a nice little extra kick, instead shot the car forward, well, like a rocket leaving a trail of rubber as the driver locked up the brakes in a futile attempt to slow down. Instead, the car got itself some air, become fully airborne and wound up as a smoking smudge on a nearby mountain side, thus honoring the driver the as the first winner of a coveted Darwin Award, awarded posthumously, obviously.
I’d love to see real solid rockets ignite on this thing and I’d enjoy to spectacle, Once lit, you can’t turn them off nor throttle them back. They run until they’re spent. Hopefully, like the original Darwin Award recipient, they are alone so if this were a real thing, it wouldn’t take anyone else out on its way to disaster.
Too bad (or maybe it’s good) that this rocket car is absolute BS.
Ok, so there would be some issues using them. But wouldn’t it be nice to have when somebody is tailgating, and you could melt the front of their vehicle off?
Soild Rocket Booster ? As in you can’t refuel it ?
A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a high-thrust, reliable propulsion system that uses solid propellant—typically a mixture of ammonium perchlorate, aluminum powder, and a binder—to provide primary lifting power during the first two minutes of flight. Unlike liquid engines, they cannot be throttled or shut down once ignited.
Can’t be shut down….. Oh this keeps getting better and better…
Yep, I caught that too, haha. So basically, they watched the Mythbusters JATO rocket car episodes and said, “yeah let’s do that but it also has AI”.
A rocket on a car that makes full power until its fuel is expended. What could go wrong?
What is surprising isn’t the fact that this is total BS, but that they don’t know enough to fake it with some semblance of realism.
Maybe it has small capsules of solid rocket propellent that works like 6 individual small boosts like nitrous but small separate doses.
I think you’re being way too generous with their logic, haha.
Even if that were the case, the “rocket nozzles” on the back of the car are all wrong for solid boosters. They’re wrong for liquid fueled rockets too, but especially wrong for solid fuel.
Street takeovers would get, messy…
The least they could do is spend 15 minutes in Kerbal Space Program before pretending to understand rockets.
But isn’t that ammonium compound going to hurt its NOx emissions?
“Each car will learn about its owner, including driving habits, routes, stops”
My 2013 Ford C-Max Energi did that. As you were getting close to a frequent parking spot, it would use more of the battery than normal to get you there without pointlessly turning on the engine right when you were about to shut it off. And that was a car that didn’t even have GPS navigation!
I’m not even sure if current Ford PHEVs can do that!
I have an 2025 Escape PHEV and yes, the execution is much worse than the 2013 C-Max Energi’s was.
My daddy said, “Boy you’re gonna drive me to drinkin’
If you don’t stop drivin’ that rocket-shod thingum.”
TBH this rocket car is really just a single use vehicle. Ignite plow into something solid driver and car exterminated
Run!!! Get out while you can!
Seeing their Company iconography (smile in front of sunrise) reminded me of the “Moonies” ! I was thinking about a joke around that, and then I was horrified to find it still active when I googled it!
I’m sure there is no connection here whatsoever, but I want nothing to do with a company that stresses AI interconnection of every damn doohickey.
Send Frank Drebin
The Moonies own the Washington Times newspaper.
Reverend Sun Myung Moon is my true father.
The anticipation of meeting your arranged wife must be thrilling.
“Still active”? The Moonies, you mean?
Yeah, a group connected to them was at the Capitol a few years back doing some aggressive lobbying, and there was an unrelated celebrity guest at a Moonie conference around that time; appeared next to Hun Sen.
Their leader was arrested last year with allegations of bribery to people close with that South Korean president who attempted a military self-coup. Not sure what that means for the future of the organization overall.
Not sure exactly how active they are as an organization, but they sure were related to a lot of very active people.
I’m surprised to hear a Chinese company making these claims – these are North Korea level ridiculous. After reading the headline I was expecting to hear the inventor of this car scored 13 holes-in-one the first time he ever played golf.
Also, why is Dwayne Wade involved in any of this?
Why is Wade involved?
$$$$$
Should have got Will I Am he does a lot of these fake car types
Frankly, its getting close to Tesla-level ridiculous
I wanna believe this is all the work of an overly zealous marketing person who somehow convinced the company to “just trust me, bro” on all their ideas.
I imagine the shock and horror of the company heads when they find out they have to present a rocked powered car in 2 months. “But… Jeff… We make appliances, why would you do this to us?”
Anyway nice oversized Hot Wheels model.
I bet China is not the place to do the Bro trust me foolishness. I mean they don’t have golden parachutes for failed mgmt they just figure it is cheaper to have them killed. Not kidding
The overly zealous marketing person who somehow convinced the company to “just trust me, bro” on all their ideas got fired last week and replaced with an AI.
To be fair, that’s probably one of the roles that actually can be completely replaced with AI without any loss in performance.
“Mockets”
It’s a hybrid. A rocket/EV hybrid. EV torque to overcome static friction and then the rockets have a chance to kick in once it’s rolling.
Totally not practical on the road. Solid rockets can make a lot of smoke. And once they’re lit, they’re going. Yes there are ones that can be throttled but these don’t seem to be that type. Hope the brakes are good. Oh wait, those are AI controlled. It’ll hallucinate a clear road with green lights and full send it into a Tesla.
Dwayne Wade wasn’t anybody’s “sidekick.”
“Thirteen time NBA all-star is merely Lebron’s sidekick”
“Thirteen time NBA all-star is pitchman for a Chinese vaporware rocket-EV hybrid appliance company/vehicle manufacturer”
Both are very weird things to say out loud.
Sorry LeBron isn’t even a top 5 all time. Flops like a 2nd string European futbol player.
Is this the second Dwayne Wade Autopian connection? I seem to recall DT helping him to drive a tractor or something. Or am I just crazy?
You’re not crazy, I remember something like that too.
This is the automotive equivalent of walking into a “kosher-style” deli that serves ham & cheese.
The rocket car? Well… it’s “rocket-style”.
I cannot tell you how irritating it is that Noah’s (and I’m sure others) offer a ham and cheese bagel with “shmear.” It’s the verbal equivalent of “my culture is not a costume.”
So… the one thing about rockets is they’re really good at getting you moving when you’re already moving, but they are absolutely terrible methods of getting you moving from a standstill. Not to mention that rockets require lots of maintenance and said maintenance is really expensive. I guess thats vaporware for you.
Someone may have seen one too many Estes model rocket launches. Those go quickly but there’s still a second where they hang on the pad. That’s best case where it’s basically all motor with a lightweight shell.
Turns out wheels are a really good way of initiating movement from a standstill since rockets just kind of push a lot of air against atmospheric air and hope for the best.
I’m so sick of AI (Artificial Stupidity) that I want to puke…
AI, influencers, fake rockets, and appliance (cars) Ha ha
Dreame? More like NIGHTMARE
So this is what ACME changed their name to?
“Each car will learn about its owner, including driving habits, routes, stops”
e.g., Your personal data will be harvested and sold to any and all parties willing to cough up a small fee.
After the owner pays a monthly subscription to get it
But are they mechanical or are they also AI- and/or rocket-powered?
Frankly I’m kind of glad you didn’t send one of those RPN aficionados 🙂
“The new Dreame Connected Toothbrush – APPLY DIRECTLY TO FOREHEAD”
Can I use this in the shower after eating spaghetti?
Toothbrush AND eyebrow groomer.
AND floor waxer!
AND a Dessert Topping!
I wonder if they also offer a BASS-O-MATIC (“That’s good bass!”)
… but they’d probably just ruin it by removing the physical control buttons, use voice and face recognition for control with AI brains, and even add power-folding handle dammit.
APPLY DIRECTLY TO FOREHEAD APPLY DIRECTLY TO FOREHEAD APPLY DIRECTLY TO FOREHEAD
“Each car will learn about its owner…your car will talk to your toothbrush, your air fryer, your vacuum!”
This all sounds like a threat more than a sales pitch.
This was my first thought. What the hell would I want my car to talk to my toothbrush for?
Your toothbrush can tell the car that you forgot to brush your teeth again, and the car can ratchet up the AI-powered air freshener and/or squirt mouthwash at you
Second, real concern: why would I want my car and toothbrush talking to China?
To receive ads that are more relevant to your interests, of course.
“There’s one in every car, you’ll see”
Why the hell would I want my toothbrush to talk to anything? I mean the quadrant timer is nice, but beyond that I just don’t see a reason.
“You missed a bit, down a bit, back a bit, Got it”.
“Don’t forget to floss and use mouth wash!”
Just get a Philips Sonicare, Matt.
Also, the pic of the toothbrush model is one of the most awkward PR pics I’ve seen. She’s pointing it at her forehead while giving us her best o-face. I guess Dreame also makes other types of personal care devices and she has one in her other hand?
Thought the exact same thing
I have a Philips Sonicare!
Celebrities, they’re just like us.
One woman’s toothbrush is another woman’s vibrator.
I’d hate to be that first woman.
I’m not here to kink shame.
I just hope the another woman has super-ultra-soft bristles!
She’s REALLY clean. Inside and out!
Damn, I feel like they’re trolling Elon and the never materializing Roadster + promised rockets.
If this is what Chinese humor is like, this is pretty funny.
FWIW, all the Chinese people I know only laugh when they are drunk. Like really really hammered.
“No, ma’am. We at the PRC do not have a sense of humor we’re aware of.”
If they stuffed Elon in the back, and hooked him up to blow hot air out those rocket nozzles, I might believe they would work as claimed.
Isn’t this what Elmo said Tesla was going to do with the next Roadster? And he’s beat to the vaporware punch by Temu Dyson, tsk tsk.
Honestly, I didn’t read the article. I only read non-fiction and historical smut. This is neither.
Edit, sorry this wasn’t meant as a comment reply but there’s no delete on here so……
Eh, it still works.