In an updated filing to the US Department of Energy, the Cybertruck is now eligible for the $7,500 USD EV tax rebate. However, what’s most interesting is that this same filing also confirmed the upcoming production of the Single Motor Rear Wheel Drive - for model year 2025.
Rear Wheel Drive
The Rear Wheel Drive Cybertruck was initially announced at the original Cybertruck reveal, but when the Foundation Series was announced, only the Tri-motor Cyberbeast and Dual Motor AWD models were made available. Tesla initially indicated that the RWD model would arrive sometime in 2025, but that text was later removed from the website.
In the second half of 2024, Tesla launched the non-Foundation series, but it once again arrived without mention of the RWD variant. Many have expressed a great amount of interest in the RWD variant, especially given the higher-than-expected pricing of the Cybertruck at launch.
Cybertruck EV Rebate
In addition to the reveal of the 2025 RWD variant, the Cybertruck is now also eligible for the US Federal EV Tax Rebate. For buyers of the vehicle, that means the AWD Cybertruck is now eligible for the full rebate if you don’t add any additional options since it needs to stay under the $80,000 cap.
FSD can still be added for $8,000 since it’s not considered a vehicle add-on and won’t count toward the total price of the truck. The incoming US Administration has already said it intends to cancel the US Federal EV Tax Rebate sometime in late January, so if you’ve been on the fence, this may be a good opportunity to buy the truck.
Here’s an updated price table for the Cybertruck, which includes pricing with and without the rebate for all three variants.
Variant
Price
After Rebate
RWD*
$60,990
$53,490
AWD
$79,990
$72,490
Cyberbeast
$99,990
Not Eligible
*RWD price has not been confirmed at this point.
The price for the RWD Cybertruck above is the price Tesla showed on their site before it was removed in August 2024.
If you use a referral code alongside the tax rebate, the AWD starts at $71,490. Some lease incentives can also drive that price down slightly if you choose a lease and then do a lease buyout at the end.
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While Tesla’s Cybertruck has access to FSD v13, it still doesn’t include some of the FSD features that are available on other HW4 vehicles. Features such as Start FSD from Park are currently not available on the Cybertruck.
Trusted sources have now informed Not a Tesla App that the Cybertruck will soon receive an FSD update that will enable a series of new features and bring the Cybertruck up to speed with other vehicles. The update is expected to arrive within the next 14 days.
Tesla’s AI team has been relatively quiet recently, and we haven’t seen a major FSD update since FSD v13.2.8 was released on February 17th, but we’re finally getting hints of what’s around the corner.
Here’s our exclusive look at what’s coming in the latest FSD update for Cybertruck.
New Features
If you don’t own a Cybertruck - or even if you do - you may not know that the Cybertruck is missing several FSD-related features. The first three features are all related to parking lot use and Tesla’s low-speed FSD stack, which hasn’t been available on the Cybertruck so far.
This FSD update will add the following features:
Start FSD from Park: Tesla’s Unpark feature allows FSD can be started while the vehicle is still in park. To do so, one can simply set their destination from the navigation and then tap and hold the blue Start FSD button. The car will shift out of park and into drive or reverse to get going.
Since FSD V13.2.1, Start FSD from Park now requires you to also tap the brake while holding down the Start FSD button to prevent accidental activation. This safeguard can be disabled in settings.
Ability to Reverse: FSD previously demonstrated quite a want to reverse - but it was never allowed to. You can tell the planner plans for the vehicle to go into reverse to follow the path, but once the vehicle needs to shift into reverse, it’s blocked from doing so. The Cybertruck will finally be able to shift into reverse - and also seamlessly shift between Park, Drive, and Reverse all by itself. This functionality also enables 3-point turns to help navigate tight spaces.
FSD can now do multi-point turns, even in super-tight locations like parking garages.
Park: Finally, when you arrive at your destination, FSD will now park itself if it finds an open spot near or at the final location. Previously, the user had to initiate Autopark - now, FSD will either switch over to Autopark to back in or park facing front-in based on the parking spot.
Tesla has indicated that new parking features will arrive in a future update that will allow the user to pick whether the vehicle pulls over, parks in a spot, or parks in a driveway or garage when it arrives at the destination.
Improved Controller
While the new features like Start FSD from Park are eye-catching, this improved controller will actually be the largest improvement to this FSD update.
This upcoming update improves FSD’s traffic control process, improving prediction accuracy, position tracking in 3D space, and environmental analysis. These changes allow FSD to make faster decisions, anticipate turns and lane changes sooner, and operate more smoothly.
The difference between FSD V12 and V13 had a major impact on driving feel and smoothness, but these improvements were never fully reached with the Cybertruck. While smoothness improved, it wasn’t on par with Tesla’s other HW4 models—until now.
Actually Smart Summon
The final part of the update is probably going to be the most fun - the arrival of Actually Smart Summon. This feature was launched back in September 2024 for other Tesla vehicles, but it was nowhere in sight for the Cybertruck.
We initially chalked this up to Tesla needing more time to improve and work on testing the Cybertruck’s vision accuracy with their LiDAR testing rigs. However, it really does seem like Tesla has been holding off on this update for quite some time to integrate the front bumper camera into Actually Smart Summon.
With Actually Smart Summon, other Tesla vehicles will sometimes roll backward in their parking spots - to ensure that nothing is up against the front bumper. This can make Actually Smart Summon unavailable when you’re parked too close to a wall, as the car doesn’t see what’s between the edge of the hood and the ground.
The front bumper camera is Tesla’s solution to this problem. The Cybertruck and the Refreshed Model Y are both equipped with a new camera in the front bumper, enabling them to see perfectly in this blind spot. At low speeds, the camera is extremely useful, providing excellent coverage of a zone of the vehicle that is generally difficult to see for drivers - and impossible for the primary camera cluster.
Update Release Date
This FSD update will be massive for Cybertruck owners as it’ll finally bring the latest FSD features and improvements to the electric truck.
From the very beginning, Tesla chose to use its own proprietary Linux-based operating system instead of relying heavily on CarPlay and Android Auto. This also meant that it had to develop its own mapping solution that would live at the center of its infotainment space.
These maps would need to seamlessly integrate with the vehicle to plan energy-efficient routes and dynamically adjust navigation based on the battery’s state of charge.
Tesla currently uses Google Maps for most of the underlying features of its Maps app for most of the world, with Baidu Maps data being leveraged in China. Some of the map data, such as street data and voice navigation, are preloaded and updated regularly. MapBox, another software provider that has been working on these projects for over a decade, supplies the routing engine.
Navigation Routing
In 2018, MapBox purchased the 'Valhalla' routing engine, which is now part of the core API MapBox provides to users and enterprise clients like Tesla. Valhalla includes features like expanded guidance with clear and concise instructions along the route, as well as turn restrictions, highway exit information, and time zones. Although Tesla relies on Google Map APIs to build out most of their navigation app, the routing is done on Tesla’s servers using Valhalla.
Some map features, such as live traffic visualization and satellite view, require a subscription to Tesla’s Premium Connectivity data plan to access; however, a vehicle with standard connectivity will still have access to traffic-based routing, the Trip Planner, and Supercharger stall availability.
Map Updates
Tesla releases new navigation maps about twice per year, but there is no hard rule. If the version of your maps is more than a year old, you may need to connect to WiFi to download the latest updates. Not having the latest map version could prevent certain features, such as FSD, from working. If you’re not able to connect to WiFi at home, you can try a Tesla Service Center, some Supercharger locations, or a local business that has WiFi access outside.
Keep in mind that map updates are several gigabytes in size and could take a considerable amount of time to download.
Map downloads are similar to software updates in that they are rolled out gradually and not everyone will have access to the latest version right away.
Unlike software updates, map updates are downloaded silently in the background when your vehicle is connected to WiFi, so you may not even be aware that your vehicle received newer navigation data.
What’s in a Map Update
Tesla uses a combination of streamed data and map data to display what you see on your navigation screen. The navigation data that is downloaded separately includes street-level data, speed limits, points of interest (business locations), and more.
While other data is actually streamed on request and you receive the latest version when you request it. This includes the navigation tiles or images, which are what you see visually on the navigation app. Routing is also computed on Tesla’s servers instead of in the vehicle if you have that option enabled under Controls > Navigation.
How to Check for a Map Update
On your car’s touchscreen, you can go to Controls > Software to see whether there is a map update available for your vehicle. Scroll down to Navigation Data, and your current map version will be listed underneath. It’ll look something like NA-2025.2-12345.
The navigation version consists of the region abbreviation, such as NA or EU, followed by the year and week number when the map data was created. The last five digits are the build number of the map data.
If your car is ready to download a map update but isn't connected to Wi-Fi, a download progress bar will appear, similar to a vehicle update. However, to download the most recent Tesla maps, your car must be connected to Wi-Fi.
