One of the most anticipated features of the upcoming Tesla Cybertruck is the rear-wheel-steering system that has been seen at work on US streets in several previous videos.
A feature typically offered by larger high-end vehicles, rear-wheel steering (RWS) mainly helps maneuverability at low speeds, when the rear wheels turn in the opposite direction of the front wheels to facilitate maneuvers like parking or turning.
Rear-wheel steering therefore allows vehicles to have a shorter turning circle, and it also comes in handy when navigating tight roundabouts or parking garages.
At higher speeds, rear-wheel steering also provides added stability during cornering as the rear wheels turn in the same direction as the front wheels, enhancing the vehicle’s dynamic performance.
Tesla has never offered rear-wheel steering on a production car before the Cybertruck, so it’s understandable why Tesla owners and brand aficionados are very excited about this feature.
The Cybertruck Release Candidate (RC) units currently roaming the streets in California and Texas provide the opportunity to see the rear-wheel steering system in action, as highlighted by these two fresh videos.
The first one shared by X (formerly Twitter) user @xwilfredov provides arguably the best look yet at the Cybertruck’s RWS as it shows the rear wheels from up close. The footage captured on the streets of San Francisco by the side camera of the user’s Tesla reveals a surprisingly large turning angle of the electric pickup truck’s rear wheels.
Actually, some people who saw the post mistook the rear end of the Cybertruck for the front, although the vehicle’s unusual design could also be partially responsible for that. The user said in the tweet that he caught the maneuver just after the Cybertruck’s “driver decided to dart in front of me lol.”
The electric truck’s RWS system is also seen in action in another video that highlights the usefulness of the Cybertruck’s rear-wheel steering with a practical example. “Got this shot of a dirty Cybertruck prototype making a u-turn with rear-wheel-steering,” X user @klwtts wrote in the tweet accompanying the video.
The short clip captured by a Tesla‘s dashcam in Stanford, California, shows a Cybertruck RC unit making a U-turn at an intersection, and while we only get to see halfway through the entire maneuver, the truck’s turning radius looks pretty impressive and significantly tighter than of a similar vehicle without RWS.
It remains to be seen whether all Cybertruck models will offer rear-wheel steering as standard. Most prototypes and pre-production units that have been filmed so far seemed to have it, so fingers crossed for that.
