We haven’t been particularly kind to Tesla e-truck since it was first revealed, and not just because it’s a 7,000-pound monster sold by a company His CEO is a far-right troll And a man-baby. The trucks themselves encountered problem after problemincluding one that was bricked by a simple car wash. And for a truck that’s supposed to be tough enough to handle any environment, it’s really not good for the terrain. Or at least it’s not. A new over-the-air update seems to have changed that.
When TFLoffroad first brought the Cybertruck to Moab, things didn’t go so smoothly. It wasn’t a total disaster, but at the same time, it still struggled on a fairly easy final track. However, at the time, they knew there was a big terrain-focused update coming, so let’s take the first test as a baseline to highlight how much improvement was needed.
After receiving the update, it was time to head back to Moab to see if it really was better for off-roading. Spoiler alert: It’s a lot better than before. Previous issues like programming the throttle and traction control make driving much easier, and the addition of a locking differential makes actually getting down the trail significantly better. There’s also a crawl control mode, which is always useful.
That means you can’t fix all of the Cybertruck’s off-road issues with software updates. Departure angle remains an issue, as does forward visibility, and there’s really nothing anyone can do about either. Thankfully, the cameras seem to have good enough resolution that they’re legitimately useful when off-roading. Additionally, steer-by-wire makes it hard to tell what’s going on with the front wheel even if it does offer the benefit of not having to worry about the impact taking the steering wheel out of your hands. And of course it’s still very heavy.
