A Tesla Cybertruck was spotted testing its steering and Elon Musk commented by hyping up the electric pickup truck’s turning radius.
Early on in the Cybertruck project, Tesla set a goal to have the electric pickup be as utilitarian as the Ford F-150 and drive as well as a sports car.
It’s quite an ambitious goal and many were skeptical, but electric vehicles do offer a lot of advantages. Combined with other trends making their way into the industry, like rear-steering, Tesla might have a shot at making it happen.
A new sighting of a Cybertruck prototype shows Tesla testing the steering of the electric pickup truck:
The video starts out with the Cybertruck doing a u-turn, and it appears to use its rear-steering to make it really sharp.
Rear-wheel steering is quickly becoming a must-have feature for electric pickup trucks coming to market.
Rear-wheel steering, or four-wheel steering, is the ability to steer the rear axle, generally to a smaller degree than the front wheel, and to create a tighter and more precise turning radius. GMC started the dance by demonstrating the “crab mode,” utilizing rear-wheel steering on the Hummer EV.
Several other automakers have since announced rear-wheel-steering, and back in 2021, Tesla followed by announcing that the Cybertruck will have the capacity.
We have seen it at work in other recent sightings.
But this new sighting shows a real-world use of the feature and in the real-world scenario, we can see how impressive it is for a pickup truck to move like that. CEO Elon Musk commented on the new video and said that he expects the Cybertruck to turn as well as the much smaller Model Y.
At the end, we can see the Tesla test driver is testing the steering stability of the Cybertruck, and it seems to respond well.
Tesla recently said that it aims to bring the Cybertruck to production this summer, but we shouldn’t expect significant deliveries until 2024, when the automaker will ramp up to volume production.
In the meantime, the automaker is expected to keep testing beta prototypes on the road. Keep your eyes open.