Cybertruck Details Revealed: Largest Display in Any Tesla, Rear-Wheel Steering Standard, 18-Inch Wheels

Tesla's Cybertruck will retain it's massive wiper for production

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The Tesla Cybertruck buzz continues to ramp up. Elon Musk says it will change the road, and he plans to make the futuristic truck his daily driver. Thanks to its distinctive design and outstanding performance capabilities, millions of buyers are on the wait list to drive this amazing truck.

Matthew Donegan-Ryan, a shareholder who attended Tesla's Investor Day, had the chance to speak with senior Tesla executives and learn more about Cybertruck. Several investors were sharing information about Cybertruck, but Matthew Donegan-Ryan has posted extensive videos about his conversations with Tesla executives.

Sizes and Variations

According to rumors, the Cybertruck pre-production beta that was on display at Investor Day is how the truck would appear if it were available for purchase right now. The Cybertruck is about 5% smaller than the prototype unveiled in 2019, but despite being a smaller vehicle than the Ford F-150 Raptor, it has more usable space. The Ford Super Crew Raptors at the event were comparable to the Cybertruck, which is slightly smaller. The size reduction means that the Cybertruck can only hold five passengers instead of six. It's expected to weigh between 6,500-7,500 pounds. Other investors are reporting 7,000 pounds

The Cybertruck will come in two versions: a dual-motor base model and a high-end performance model. It was initially believed that the top trim would be a quad motor, but conversations with Tesla staff seemed to suggest that Tesla would forego developing a quad-motor powertrain in favor of a tri-motor powertrain for the Cybertruck. All Cybertruck configurations will come standard with rear-wheel steering.

Largest Display in a Tesla

The Cybertruck will have Tesla's largest display ever, measuring 18.5 inches diagonally, however it'll come without a gauge cluster, or heads-up display. The redesigned Model S and Model X have a 17" center screen, while the Model 3 and Model Y include a 15" center display.

A combination of a typical round steering wheel and the yoke found on the Model S and Model X, the steering wheel will be round on the sides with flat top and bottom edges.

Unlike the F-150 Lightning, the front bumper grille does not open along with the hood. The production version of the Cybertruck windshield light bar will have amber lights, just like the Tesla semi, to indicate that the truck is wider than the standard 80 inches.

Wheels and Suspension

Highly advanced air suspension will come standard on every Cybertruck. Staff told the intrepid investor that Cybertruck can handle pretty much anything. "I was told very directly that they have tested the air suspension and they're confident it can handle Baja-style racing."

The Cybertruck will have 18-inch wheels, and at the very least, all-terrain and all-season standard tire options will be available. The tire's dimensions are 285/65 R18, or 35 inches by 11.25 inches by 18 inches. The company in charge of making the tires for the Cybertruck will be Goodyear. Donegan-Ryan estimates each tire will cost $385.

No Self-Presenting Doors

The doors on the Cybertruck won't self-present themselves like the doors on the Model X. Unlike the prototype's stainless steel bumpers, the Cybertruck's production beta's bumpers and side skirts are made of black plastic and are five-mile-per-hour impact compliant. The side-view mirrors are supposedly removable, but no confirmation of that.

New Team is Developing Accessories for Cybertruck

The 48-volt architecture used by the Cybertruck will provide more power, lighter and less expensive wiring, and a smaller accessories battery. For the vehicle, Tesla has created a Cybertruck Accessories Team, and rather than working with aftermarket businesses to build add-ons, Tesla will do it themselves. Off-roading, camping, and racing are the three subgroups of the Accessories team.

With millions of people on the waiting list in North America, it appears that list will not be opening up in Europe. With it's immense size, Donegan-Ryan says there are no plans to have this beast on the narrow European roads.

The Cybertruck will be a strong and adaptable vehicle, suitable for off-roading, camping, and even racing, according to the most recent information about it. The Cybertruck is poised to have a big impact on the pickup truck market thanks to its distinctive design and impressive features.

Incoming U.S. Administration to Set Federal Rules for Robotaxi

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According to a recently published article by Bloomberg, the Trump administration intends to introduce a federal framework for autonomous vehicles. According to members of the administrative transition team, this new framework will be part of the Transportation Department’s list of priorities.

This places Tesla in a good position to begin working towards establishing and expanding its Robotaxi network and getting production, validation, and approval of the Cybercab off the ground.

Legal Limits

Today’s laws have fairly strict requirements for any vehicle that travels on the road—it needs to have steering wheels, pedals, mirrors, and plenty of driver-awareness or driver-assistance safety features. None of these are needed on a Robotaxi, and Tesla’s Cybercab also has none of these items. Instead, with no pedals and no steering wheel, it takes passengers from origin to destination with minimal user input.

The framework for autonomous vehicles could be spearheaded by former Uber executive Emil Michael, who could potentially take on the Transportation Department under the new administration. Uber previously worked on their autonomy program and is potentially a direct competitor to Tesla’s Robotaxi network.

The current regulation, in addition to having stringent hardware requirements, caps the number of autonomous vehicles a single company can operate at 2,500 units per year. This could drastically limit how Tesla’s Robotaxi network functions, especially since it doesn’t need additional high-resolution mapping to work in a specific location. FSD is extremely adaptable and learns on the fly.

Rather than deploying just a couple thousand units a year, Tesla needs to be able to deploy tens of thousands - the more units on the road, the faster they can collect data and iterate, especially with the recent deployment of their new Cortex Supercomputer.

State Laws

There’s one more obstacle to the mass deployment of autonomous vehicles—state regulations. Every state has its own set of regulations, and even with federal guidance and regulations becoming less limiting and more open, every state can choose to establish exactly how much autonomy it wants.

Tesla and other companies like Waymo, which are pursuing autonomous transportation, will have to navigate a regulatory maze to get their vehicles approved at a state-by-state level.

Tesla has already taken steps to get its Robotaxi network off the ground in Palo Alto, an affluent city that has been struggling to provide affordable transportation for its residents. With looser federal regulations, Elon’s timeline of deployments in Texas and California by late 2025 may move even sooner.

This is definitely a framework to watch —Unsupervised FSD and Robotaxi could be coming quicker than anyone expects.

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Tesla Holiday Update Wishlist - Maps & Autopilot Edition

Not a Tesla App

We’re eagerly anticipating Tesla’s biggest update of the year — the Holiday update. The update usually arrives in December, typically towards the end of the month. Last year, the rollout was actually earlier, happening in the second week of December.

As part of our ongoing series, we’re sharing our wishlist for features we hope to see in this year’s holiday update. This edition focuses on improvements to Tesla Maps and Autopilot.

User-contributed Map Data

Many users have asked for the integration of more Waze-like features into Tesla’s navigation. Earlier this year, Tesla added Speed Camera locations, traffic lights and stop signs to maps, but users really want it to be a Waze-like experience that lets you contribute data. This includes marking police car locations, accidents, construction, and more. We’re not sure how likely this is to happen. So far, Tesla has relied on the Google API and other vendors to highlight information on the map.

Avoid Highways Option

Users have been asking for an ‘Avoid Highways’ option forever, as it’s a standard option in navigation systems nowadays. While the Alternate Routes feature is helpful, it may not always provide a route that avoids the highway.

In June, Elon Musk confirmed that a “Avoid Highways” option would be added to Tesla navigation. We still haven’t seen it arrive, but we’re fairly confident that it will eventually be available in Tesla vehicles, maybe even for the Holiday update. What better way to enjoy a winter wonderland than to drive through some country roads instead of on the highway?

3D Buildings in Maps

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3D maps arrived in China earlier this year, and Google began rolling out 3D maps for various apps just last month. Apple already provides a 3D map with beautiful renderings of nearby buildings, and Rivian already features 3D buildings with an Apple-like look, so Tesla is playing catch-up a little bit here.

While 3D map support could be viewed as mostly eye candy, it can sometimes be useful when navigating an unknown area. Since the Intel infotainment processor is already near its limit and has excluded features in the past, such as improved visualizations and High Fidelity Park Assist, this feature could be limited to newer AMD-powered vehicles.

At Tesla’s recent Robotaxi event, we saw custom 3D maps in the vehicle with a specialized interface, so Tesla knows this is an appealing addition.

Full Screen Visualizations on Intel

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This year Tesla added support for full screen Autopilot visualizations on AMD-based vehicles. Unfortunately the option to go full screen isn’t available on Intel vehicles, unless you’re in North America and have FSD.

There isn’t a clear reason why this is the case, since Intel vehicles can obviously handle them. It’d be nice if this holiday season Tesla expanded  full-screen visualizations to all Intel vehicles, regardless of location.

Detect and Visualize Emergency Vehicles

Greentheonly/X

Tesla already detects emergency vehicles while on Autopilot, however, it doesn’t display them in the visualization any differently than a normal car. Tesla was planning on adding emergency vehicle visualizations as far back as 2021, but they didn’t happen for some reason.

Tesla recently announced that they’re going to step up emergency vehicle detection by not only detecting the vehicles visually but also using audio input as a cue. With FSD v13, which is expected to be released to Tesla employees this month, FSD will detect emergency vehicles using the vehicle’s internal microphone. This should let the vehicle know about emergency vehicles sooner. We’re hoping that on-screen visualization comes along with this update.

If it’s anything like Tesla’s 2021 implementation, Tesla will design emergency lights that could be added to various existing 3D models, such as cars, SUVs, and motorcycles.

FSD Visualizations in Other Regions

This one is long overdue, and we hope it finally arrives. Owners outside of North America have been paying for FSD for years and have almost nothing to show for it. Sure, it includes some features like Summon (with USS vehicles) and, more recently, Autopark, but it doesn’t even include Actually Smart Summon yet.

While Tesla says the FSD is coming to Europe and China in Q1/Q2 next year, it’d be a great addition to add FSD visualizations for the time being.

There’s no doubt that Tesla is already detecting objects and vehicles behind the scenes and comparing what the vehicle would do to what the driver does to help improve Autopilot in these markets. For some reason, Tesla has decided to show different visualizations depending on whether you have Autopilot or FSD and whether you live in North America or elsewhere.

Adding FSD visualizations for everyone, regardless of whether they have Basic Autopilot, EAP, or FSD, would be an exciting addition — and it may even increase the subscription rate to FSD.

Expand Basic Autopilot

Tesla’s Basic Autopilot includes Adaptive Cruise Control and Autosteer, but we’d love for Tesla to expand this further to match what other manufacturers are offering.

Right now, Tesla considers Navigate on Autopilot and automatic lane changes part of Enhanced Autopilot. This means that if you’re on Autopilot and want to change lanes, you need to disable AP, change lanes, and re-enable it. Since many regions no longer offer Enhanced Autopilot for purchase, users are forced to put up with this annoyance or pay for FSD, which isn’t offered as a subscription outside of North America.

By creating a clearer distinction between Autopilot (focused on highway driving) and FSD (designed for city driving), Tesla could improve the Autopilot experience for users while encouraging them to upgrade to FSD.

Actually Smart Summon

Actually Smart Summon is still mostly limited to North America, with some small regions such as Taiwan, also receiving it. However, it still requires you to hold the ‘come’ button currently. The next big leap would be to remove this requirement and enable users to summon their vehicles with a single tap. Tesla previously said this was coming in a future improvement to A.S.S.

Ideally, we’d see the reach of Actually Smart Summon expanded to Europe and other regions and improvements of the feature, although we’re much more likely to see the former for the Christmas update.

Cybertruck is also still waiting for Summon, so this could be an additional surprise.

Autoshift for All Cars

While Autoshift isn’t directly tied to Autopilot, it does leverage AI to decide whether to shift into reverse or drive. This feature has now been released on the new Model S, Model X, the new Model 3, and the Cybertruck. However, Musk once said that it would be added to all Tesla vehicles, so we’re hoping that’s still in the works.

There’s certainly no reason why Tesla can’t add it to older vehicles with stalks. For those not familiar with Autoshift, it allows the vehicle to automatically shift into reverse or drive when the driver is ready to start moving. This makes it even easier to get going: You simply get in the car, press the brake pedal, giving the vehicle a chance to shift, and then press the accelerator.

This is our second wishlist of features we’d love to see in Tesla vehicles this holiday season. If you haven’t seen our first wishlist, the Tesla App Edition, be sure to check it out.

While this is a list of the most popular user requests related to Tesla’s navigation and Autopilot features, we’re sure that there are some we missed. Let us know your thoughts and ideas in our forums.

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