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Motortrend: Best Tech 2025: The Tesla Cybertruck’s steer-by-wire reinvents the (steering) wheel

twinbee | 2025-02-25 19:10 | 223 views

Comments (59)
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twinbee 2025-02-25 19:15

Key paragraphs for me: > 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. ---------- > 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).

[deleted] 2025-02-25 19:21

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twinbee 2025-02-25 19:23

Why wouldn't you want it in your M3P too?

Nine_block 2025-02-25 19:23

I have been saying this since I bought mine. The steering and agility of my CT is amazing. It makes my G80 M3 and GT3RS feel lazy in this regard. It may look like a refrigerator, but damn does it drive well.

Slayr79 2025-02-25 19:30

I’d love it on my model 3 performance as a toggle. Track racing would take a while to get used to if different inputs generated different turning responses from the car but I feel like it would be great in a city everyday drive environment. Not having to turn hand over hand at low speeds was my favorite thing about test driving the cybertruck just to experience that steerbywire

Shygar 2025-02-25 19:30

It's so much easier to drive, every car should have it.

[deleted] 2025-02-25 19:34

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[deleted] 2025-02-25 19:37

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Shygar 2025-02-25 19:38

It's not a lazy thing, it's just easier. Why do you have to turn the wheel so many times? I only have to turn it 90 degrees max.

armykcz 2025-02-25 19:39

Best thing about street by wire is you can have it tuned as you want. You could even have driving modes for racing or city… want feel of fixed link no problem… there is literally no disadvantage…

twinbee 2025-02-25 19:41

When you say 'disconnected', do you mean in terms of response/latency/delay or in terms of the feel of the "wheel-resets-back-to-center" force after a turn?

[deleted] 2025-02-25 19:42

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Shygar 2025-02-25 19:44

I had a Model 3 for 6 years and now a Cybertruck. If you are doing a 3 point turn you can't fully turn the wheels without going arm over arm to turn the wheel until it stops. On the Cybertruck I just turn it sideways and I am already fully turned.

ace-treadmore 2025-02-25 19:49

SBW makes every other vehicle feel outdated. Hopefully the S gets it soon.

[deleted] 2025-02-25 19:50

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tech01x 2025-02-25 19:51

They seem to have hinted strongly that it will.

[deleted] 2025-02-25 19:52

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Shygar 2025-02-25 19:58

How can you possibly do a 3 point turn without turning the wheels all the way as far as they can go?

yhsong1116 2025-02-25 19:59

S and X would benefit a lot from tihs

HighHokie 2025-02-25 20:08

It’s not a reasonable argument to begin with. One could make an argument for wanting more direct feel to the road, but most buyers are not serving up canyons or tracking it. In that sense, steer by wire would likely be overwhelmingly popular for commuter cars.

David-tee 2025-02-25 20:10

But who would buy a Tesla now!

Shygar 2025-02-25 20:11

You still get feedback, it's just not a direct mechanical link but it feels pretty real.

ackermann 2025-02-25 20:34

> Tesla wasn’t the first to put steer-by-wire in a car … and bring it to US roads Or even the first in a pickup truck, in the US market. GM’s Quadrasteer option on early 2000’s Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups was excellent, worked really well. But it was an expensive option and didn’t sell particularly well, so they’re quite rare

KymbboSlice 2025-02-25 20:42

Quadrasteer wasn’t quite the same thing. That was only the rear wheels, and it still had a mechanical steering linkage for the front axle. It could revert to normal steering if there was any problem with the electronic system. The cybertruck has no mechanical linkage at all and is actually fully steer by wire.

tenemu 2025-02-25 20:55

I don't think he understands the system

ThMogget 2025-02-25 21:00

If they can get the force feedback to replicate camber and caster and ‘feel’ like an old fashioned rack, I am all for it on performance cars. It doesn’t have to be tuned to one-finger-steering a giant barge with no feedback. Its continually adjustable on-the-fly.

1988rx7T2 2025-02-25 21:10

Rear wheel steering and steering by wire are not the same thing

ChrisSlicks 2025-02-25 21:17

You can see the latency, but it's not really a real world issue. People mentioning the latency are cranking the wheel to full lock in a parking lot and complaining it isn't instantaneous. How long does it take to turn a regular steering wheel 2-3 turns? It sure isn't instant. Faking the steering feedback will likely improve over time, might take some more sensitive load sensors to convey those smaller changes.

[deleted] 2025-02-25 21:20

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ChrisSlicks 2025-02-25 21:20

Knowing how well a simulator steering wheel can feel on the high-end I think the potential is definitely there. The hardest part is going to be "getting the data" from the rack on those small load changes so that you can convey them to the steering wheel. From that point everything is configurable.

[deleted] 2025-02-25 22:06

Literally hundreds of thousands to millions of people, you buffoon.

twinbee 2025-02-25 22:50

> People mentioning the latency are cranking the wheel to full lock in a parking lot and complaining it isn't instantaneous. That might be due to overcoming the harsh torque needed when the car is still. In motion, that latency may be far less.

ChunkyThePotato 2025-02-25 23:29

Tesla is the first to sell a fully steer-by-wire car to customers. That system you're talking about is rear-wheel steering, which is a different thing. Cybertruck has that too, but it's something else.

[deleted] 2025-02-25 23:43

I tried it on a Costco parking lot and it was alright. I also tried it on Skyline Drive and it was numb and reduced the visceral enjoyment. It's terrible for fun driving because of the artificial feedback and input delay.

Unencrypted_Thoughts 2025-02-26 02:02

Steer-by-wire is the best feature of the CT. Every time I drive another car it feels so uncomfortable having to turn the wheel so much. All Teslas/cars should have it.

ZeroChad 2025-02-26 02:07

I’d argue that the responsiveness is perfect for fun driving in a truck sized vehicle. You’re not diving for an apex in this thing and needing sports car feedback. Input delay… are you sure you weren’t sleepy?

Flashy_Ad_2065 2025-02-26 02:22

Maybe hundred of thousands yeah, but def millions less than a year ago

damonlebeouf 2025-02-26 09:42

After test driving a cybertruck I was shocked at how nice this feature was. It honestly feels like a big evolution for the automotive world which really is what the cybertruck is all around.

Ljhughes8 2025-02-26 13:58

Go test drive one . Steer by wire make the cyber truck handle like a car. make the CT fun to drive. And I have never had a truck that was fun to drive. Im

Ljhughes8 2025-02-26 14:10

Go drive one it handles Cruces fine in relaxed mode and better in focus. It's a truck that does stuff trucks are. Not supposed to do . It is a truck that drives like a car fast like a sport care handles and cheap to drive and can haul. It is a truck that you enjoy in any situation for 90 percent of people

north7 2025-02-26 14:50

It would be insane not to bring the big CT tech features to the S/X refresh (that's supposed to be announced this year). Steer by wire, 48v architecture, and etherloop are game-changers.

DoctorHoneywell 2025-02-26 15:08

The S and X refreshes are the most I've been interested in a new Tesla vehicle in a very, very long time. The 3 and Y are basically cosmetic refreshes but the S and X really need to prove themselves in the luxury EV space, it's much more crowded than it was when those cars were announced.

hydrastix 2025-02-26 16:56

The steer by wire ratio and the four wheel steering are probably my favorite features of my CT. It makes it so easy and fun to drive once you get used to it.

Flipslips 2025-02-26 17:58

I agree. I think the holdup is steer by wire needs the 48v system, which Lars recently discussed and said it’s just a matter of supply chain can’t do 48v for that many cars yet, but they are working on it. (Specifically asked if the model y would get it)

[deleted] 2025-02-27 00:24

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aaayyyuuussshhh 2025-02-27 01:06

Personally i would like to see completely redesigned models. The Lucid air/gravity are similar dimensionally but have vastly more range, charging speeds, interior space/cargo space, and even power, etc.

aaayyyuuussshhh 2025-02-27 01:07

Also the ride is quite good. Better than any ICE truck. It really does just drive like a small compact car. Not necessarily handle like one. I still think they could have done so much more to make the truck better and more capable though. Especially given the failed to release at a sub 50K price point.

feurie 2025-02-27 14:47

Except they aren't "basically cosmetic" which is what people also said about the S and X. They're much more solid, smooth, capable vehicles than the pre refresh ones.

feurie 2025-02-27 14:47

No one said lazy. The power steering is already driven by a motor. What a weird take.

feurie 2025-02-27 14:49

What input delay? Compared to what? Power steering is already controlled by motors. Also, reduced "visceral enjoyment" compared to what? A cybertruck without it? All reviews say it's great for ANY truck.

ConsistentRegister20 2025-02-27 17:13

and they cost too much to produce and they dont make a profit. Its easy to design the best if you dont care about losing money.

RorTheRy 2025-02-27 20:31

Canoo had steer by wire before the cybertruck went into production, which makes it was one of the first vehicles to feature it. Sadly they went out of business before they could...

aaayyyuuussshhh 2025-02-27 22:45

Lol pretty sure Tesla was losing money when they launched the roadster and model S. Lucid will make profits within a few years

ConsistentRegister20 2025-02-27 22:46

You just might not understand numbers I guess.

Strange-Werewolf4452 2025-02-28 10:04

Yeah wife said I needed to get a bigger family car and I don’t like driving big vehicles. steer by wire on the truck made me actually want to drive something that big. Now it’s our minivan until there’s more than 5 of us.

David-tee 2025-03-02 00:25

Oh..cool they can buy mine…losers

WilliamG007 2025-03-03 00:29

Yep, I'm ready to trade in my 2022 S Plaid if the refresh this year is a good 'un. I know many in the same position as me.

FruktSorbetogIskrem 2025-03-03 12:38

Yes and the Model S has a long hood. Trade that for more interior space. Front forward design.

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