The tech seems nice. But is Tesla going to survive until they can get out CT 2.0 to iron out all the other kinks?Whatever bro......You asked about the tech then shit on it when you got an answer you didn't like.
All the tech in the world doesn't matter if the final product is broken.Whatever bro......You asked about the tech then shit on it when you got an answer you didn't like.
The tech underpinning the CT is pretty cool.
First on the list is the 48v architecture which is an automotive industry first. The last time the industry went from 6v to 12v was over 70 years ago. Automobiles have advanced a lot since then and a 48v architecture just makes sense.
Second is the steer by wire. Also an automotive industry first in mass production vehicle. Not only is the CT steer by wire but it also has four wheel steering. That is pretty fucking cool on a truck.
Third is the 4860 Gen 2 batteries. These batteries are designed, engineered, and manufactured in house by Tesla. This is another automotive industry first. All other manufacturers rely on third party partners to design, engineer, and manufacture their batteries.
Fourth and probably the one you care about the least about is its performance. The rear motors on the CT are induction motors versus the industry standard permanent magnet motors. The rears motors were designed, engineered, and are manufactured by Tesla. Yet another automotive industry first.
Anyway, these are just a few of the technology advances hidden underneath the skin of the CT. I know you don't do YT but Jason Camissa did an awesome video about the CT around a year ago. He is hands down one of the best automotive journalists.
From a purely automotive engineering perspective the exterior and CEO is the least outrageous part about the CT.
It's really phenomenal technology wrapped in an "unappealing to the masses" package & then KO'd by the CEO's political forays.
I think it stood a chance before the DOGE stuff at $40k & maybe even $60k, but I LOL'd when they sent the $100k price in the pre-order email.
Lucid already technically cracked the 500-mile EV barrier:
I'm just not interested in a sedan. What I'd love is a 500+ mile EV Minivan, like take the VW Bus & put a mega battery in it!
-Maybe it's my own ignorance at play here, but none of the tech sounds phenomenal or revolutionary or anything. Feels like it's being oversold on hype more than anything.
It really just looks like Musk/Tesla had the will (and a lot of investor money bought with wild promises) to actually implement fairly practical changes that other auto companies making "boring" cars did not have the flexibility to do.
Now we see that the same "go fast break stuff" mentality that allowed the CT changes to happen also allowed the company as a whole to get stuck with this albatross of a CEO around it's neck.
I personally think phenomenal is a little too strong. I can agree with revolutionary or cutting edge though.It's really phenomenal technology wrapped in an "unappealing to the masses" package & then KO'd by the CEO's political forays.
I personally think phenomenal is a little too strong. I can agree with revolutionary or cutting edge though.
And I think "unappealing to the masses" is just completely missing the depth of the quality and design failings.
I will start by saying "the devil is in the details," because other cars have successfully used a stainless steel exterior or an aluminum frame, but these are some of the biggest problems with the CT. They spent so much effort on the technological aspects that they completely lost sight of the overall package. The CT isn't much more than a technology demonstrator at this point.
What is it supposed to be? It doesn't have to fit into any pre-defined category either, but it should be marketed to somebody for some purpose. Is it supposed to be a pick-up truck, a street racer, a long-range road tripper, an off-road master, or a post-apocalyptic survival vehicle? Because it really fails at all of them individually. The only thing it succeeds at is mashing all of that together so it can claim to be the fastest, post-apocalyptic, off-road pick-up truck - because it is the only thing in that category.
And the problem with this is that the owners don't know what they are supposed to do with it and they end up breaking it by trying to rock crawl, or drive in the snow, or ford large puddles, or even driving it on the freeway on a sunny day. These are things that a reasonable person could expect their vehicle to be good or bad at depending on its label or intended purpose, but the CT doesn't have an actual purpose.
And yes, the "driving on the freeway on a sunny day" is a little snarky, but if any part of your vehicle falls off under those conditions then you have quality and/or design issues that are almost unheard of in modern automobile manufacturing.
Yeah the asking price is steep but at least it comes with a radio and power windows and power locks unlike the Slate.I saw it yesterday & they lost me at $40,000 lol
When the company first unveiled the model, it said different versions would have different ranges, including one that has a 500-mile range. Instead, the long-range Cybertruck, which has the longest range, can only last for 350 miles on a single charge. As Electrek noted late last year, the battery pack was supposed to start shipping in early 2025, but Tesla pushed back its release to mid-2025 and also reduced its promised range from 470 miles to 445 miles.
After Tesla stopped making new Cybertruck Foundation Series, which are fully loaded with all options, buyers started to have the option of buying the $8,000 FSD package or keeping only the Autopilot package, which is included in the price.
Autopilot’s two main features are Traffic Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer. The first is self-explanatory, while Autosteer is Tesla’s name for active lane keeping.
The vast majority of Tesla vehicle owners don’t buy the FSD package.
As of now, 16 months after Tesla started delivering the Cybertruck, the automaker has yet to deliver Autosteer on the electric pickup truck.
Today, Tesla started reaching out to Cybertruck owners to let them know that it won’t make Autosteer available for Cybertruck owners who haven’t bought FSD:
“As we improve our Autopilot technology, our feature sets will change. Accordingly, Autosteer will not be available for Cybertruck outside of Full Self-Driving (Supervised).“
Yeah, never buying from a company that treats transactions and the earlier claims they made when I was buying like Darth Vader in Cloud City. "I have altered the deal. Pray I do not alter it further.""Cybertruck owners will not get the Autosteer feature they paid for. Instead, they will get a year of ‘Supervised Full Self-Driving’."
Tesla bait-and-switch: Cybertruck owners won't get Autosteer feature they paid for
Tesla has confirmed its latest bait-and-switch: Cybertruck owners will not get the Autosteer feature they paid for. Instead, they will...electrek.co
Two notes:
1. I'm not sure how this or the battery pack change are legal. Expensive purchases were made with the expectation of future delivery.
2. This is another example of not only "never buy first-generation hardware", but also "only buy features that currently exist TODAY".
Imagine buying a non-FSD Cybertruck with the Extended-Range battery, expecting to get 570 miles, then 445 miles, then being stuck at 350 miles, then having Autosteer taken away. Also, the marketing term "Supervised" Full Self-Driving makes me LOL - how is it "full" if it's not FULL?
View attachment 123422
Also in scrubbed promises Tesla will no longer produce the hyperdrive engine module for the Cybertruck which would get you to Proxima Centauri in minutes.
Yeah, never buying from a company that treats transactions and the earlier claims they made when I was buying like Darth Vader in Cloud City. "I have altered the deal. Pray I do not alter it further."
I will preface this by asking you not to call me nasty names. I am not a MAGAt, Elon apologist, a Nazi, or a fascist. I purchased a Mustang Mach-E because even though the MY was the more sensible choice at the time I can't stand the CEO of Tesla.
The tech underpinning the CT is pretty cool.
First on the list is the 48v architecture which is an automotive industry first. The last time the industry went from 6v to 12v was over 70 years ago. Automobiles have advanced a lot since then and a 48v architecture just makes sense.
Second is the steer by wire. Also an automotive industry first in mass production vehicle. Not only is the CT steer by wire but it also has four wheel steering. That is pretty fucking cool on a truck.
Third is the 4860 Gen 2 batteries. These batteries are designed, engineered, and manufactured in house by Tesla. This is another automotive industry first. All other manufacturers rely on third party partners to design, engineer, and manufacture their batteries.
Fourth and probably the one you care about the least about is its performance. The rear motors on the CT are induction motors versus the industry standard permanent magnet motors. The rears motors were designed, engineered, and are manufactured by Tesla. Yet another automotive industry first.
Anyway, these are just a few of the technology advances hidden underneath the skin of the CT. I know you don't do YT but Jason Camissa did an awesome video about the CT around a year ago. He is hands down one of the best automotive journalists.
From a purely automotive engineering perspective the exterior and CEO is the least outrageous part about the CT.
Infiniti's New Steering System Is a Big Step Forward—Unless You Love Cars
Car lovers will howl, but most customers won’t notice or care. That's good for Infiniti.www.wired.com
You read the date right, Infiniti Q50 got steer by wire in 2014.
The Cybertruck is the first vehicle on U.S. roads to go fully steer-by-wire with no mechanical linkage between the front wheels and the steering wheel. Lexus and Infiniti have offered steer-by-wire systems before Tesla, but they had mechanical backups. Powered by the Cybertruck’s 48-volt low-voltage architecture (as opposed to the 12-volt systems in most cars), multiple electric actuators move the front steering rack and turn all four wheels in response to inputs.
Also, eliminating the physical steering linkage opens up all kinds of packaging possibilities. Cab-over designs are practical again if safety regs will allow them. Swapping a car from right- to left-hand drive could be as simple as pressing a button. Want to drive from the middle like Gordon Murray or move a vehicle around a job site without getting in it? The world is your oyster.
The better question is safety. Tesla says that “the steer-by-wire system is controlled by multiple redundant sensors and actuators,” so that if one component fails, you’re not screwed. If there is an issue, it says, “an alert displays on the touchscreen, a chime sounds, and Cybertruck gradually reduces drive torque while informing you to pull over.” There’s at least one report of this happening via a series of tweets that have now been deleted.
Of course, mechanical steering components can fail, too. Ever seen a car with a wheel askew from a bad tie rod or ball joint? The difference is that these mechanical parts typically wear out and show signs of wear and degradation before failing outright, and a driver might retain some degree of control even with just a single wheel on the ground. Also, steer-by-wire cars still have the suspension components responsible for keeping the wheels in check, so they’re not eliminating the potential for these faults.
The variable ratio translates small inputs into deft maneuvers at parking-lot speeds before relaxing for highway cruising. Paired with the Cybertruck’s four-wheel steering abilities, it makes driving a big vehicle much easier and eliminates wasted effort. As I noted in my full review:
“Instead of going hand-over-hand for 90- and 180-degree turns, you just turn the steering wheel about 75 degrees for a right turn, or as far as it’ll go (roughly 120 degrees) to make a U-turn. There’s no hand-over-hand, no shuffle steering, and no guessing as to how far to turn the wheel. It’s a boon for maneuverability, and paired with the Cybertruck’s EV-typical low center of gravity, goes a long way toward making it feel far more agile than it should.”
You pilot the Cybertruck with a yoke that sweeps through its full range of motion in just 340 degrees—less than one complete turn. That’s possible because the relationship between the driver’s input and the resulting angle at the front wheels is written in code, with all the infinite possibilities that implies. Tesla uses that flexibility to give the Cybertruck the quickest steering of any production vehicle at parking lot speeds and more relaxed responses at highway speeds for smooth, steady control.
Tesla wasn’t the first to put steer-by-wire in a car, but it was the first to realize the technology’s full potential and bring it to U.S. roads. The steering ratio adjusts over a huge spread, from an unheard of 5:1 at a crawl to 12:1 at the top end. If those numbers mean nothing to you, just know this: The Cybertruck’s steering at its slowest is more responsive than the Porsche 911’s variable-ratio rack at its quickest.
Having a mechanical backup is a safety feature...MB had SBC which was brake by wire. I had it in my 2006 E350 4Matic. It had its own battery backup. The system proved to be unreliable and MB switched it out. But they extended the warranty on it to 25 years.
Sensotronic Brake Control - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
Four wheel steering is pretty old too. 1987 Honda Prelude had it.
With experience and knowledge of the underlying engineering, we’ve come to trust the system, too. The front wheels are steered by two motors working in tandem, but you only need one motor to get the truck off the road to a safe spot in the event of a fault. To minimize the possibility of both motors failing at the same time, one draws power from the high-voltage powertrain battery (through a voltage converter) and the other from the 48-volt accessory battery. The angles for the steering wheel and the front wheels are both measured with triple redundancy so that if two sensors ever disagree, the third delivers the tie-breaking vote (and triggers a warning to pull over and have the vehicle serviced).
On the CT:
So it has:
1. Two motors & only needs one
2. Two separate power sources (each motor is separately-powered)
3. Triple sensors
The software safety system kicks in if an issue is detected.