Tesla's Cybertruck is going to be quite the truck. Not only is it rumored to come with FSD hardware 4.0 and the new MCU 3 that's starting to appear in Model Y cars, but Elon has now said that it will also come in a four motor variant.
A render of Tesla's Cybertruck with side mirros
Elon took to Twitter to announce that the initial production of the Cybertruck will be a four motor version. It will give Tesla the ability to have independent control of each individual wheel.
Each wheel having its own independent motor is a huge deal. The advantages of having independent control of each wheel can be compared to the advantages of a dual motor Tesla compared to a single engine AWD car.
With dual motors you gain faster response times, better efficiency and ultimately, better control of the vehicle.
In an ideal world, all vehicles would have independent control of each wheel. Up until now ICE cars weren't able to do that, but for an EV it's possible due to its small and most cost effective motors.
Track control will be improved by reducing response times. It will give Tesla a lot of flexibility that hasn't been allowed before.
By having individual motors, which were all but impossible in ICE cars, Tesla will be able to not only spin each one individually, but spin them at different rates or even in opposite directions.
All vehicles have what's called a rear differential that allows wheels that are connected to each other to spin at different speeds, something that is necessary when taking a turn. During a turn, the outside wheel will need to travel a longer distance than the inside wheel.
The differential is an ingenious idea and one that needed to be solved with the advent of cars. The video below shows how a differential works:
However, by having a motor at each wheel, Tesla is essentially getting the need to have a differential since they'll be able to spin each wheel at different speeds directly.
For anyone that has ever played with a hoverboard or an RC car that has independent control of its wheels, they know what happens when you make the left wheels move in the opposite direction of the right wheels. This won't cause the car to turn, but instead it will essentially spin in place.
That's the flexibility Tesla is gaining here. Tesla will gain a lot of control with individual motors and they may even use it to allow the car to take extremely tight turns.
Tesla removed pricing for the Cybertruck on its website earlier this year, and it's possible that Tesla is rethinking which options they'll offer in terms of motors. The rumor is that Tesla will drop the single motor and tri-motor variants and instead of a dual motor and quad motor version.
I'd also expect Tesla to offer future Model S and Model X, and the new Roadster in four motor variants as well.
Over the course of this year we have learned a lot about the new Cybertruck. We even got a look at it's massive windshield coming out of Tesla's glass center. The Cybertruck will likely be the first vehicle with Tesla's AP4 hardware and offer rear-wheel turning. Tesla has also decided to add side mirrors to the truck, although allow them to be easily removable by the owner.
The four motor variant will likely be the top of the line Cybertruck and Tesla will start producing these vehicles first, which is currently scheduled to start in late 2022.
Elon Musk has said that he will provide an update for Tesla's roadmap during Tesla's next financial results. We expect to have an update for Cybertruck production during that time.
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As part of Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update, Tesla included two awesome new features - Weather at Destination and the long-awaited Weather Radar Overlay. These two features are big upgrades built upon the weather feature that was added in update 2024.26. The original weather feature added an hourly forecast, as well as the chance of precipitation, UV index, Air Quality Index, and other data.
However, this update also added some smaller weather touches, such as the vehicle alerting you if the weather at the destination will be drastically different from the current weather.
Weather At Destination
When you’re navigating to a destination and viewing the full navigation direction list, the text under the arrival time will show you the expected weather next to your destination. You can also tap this, and the full weather pop-up will show up, showing your destination's full set of weather information.
Note the weather under the arrival time
Not a Tesla App
You can also tap the weather icon at the top of the interface at any time and tap Destination to switch between the weather at your current location and the weather at your destination.
You’re probably considering that the weather at your destination doesn’t matter when you’re three hours away - but that’s all taken into account by the trip planner. It will add in both charge time and travel time and show you the weather at your destination at your expected arrival time.
And if the weather is drastically different or inclement, such as rain or snow, while you’ve got sunshine and rainbows - the weather will be shown above the destination ETA for a few moments before it tucks itself away.
The weather pop-up above the ETA
Not a Tesla App
One limitation, though—if you’re planning a long road trip that is more than a day of driving, the weather at destination feature won’t be available until you get closer.
Weather Radar Overlay
As part of the improvements to weather, Tesla has also added a radar overlay for precipitation. You can access the new radar overlay by tapping the map and then tapping the weather icon on the right side of the map. It’ll bring up a 3-hour radar overlay centered on either your vehicle or your route. You can play or pause the animation of the weather overlay, but it’s useful to see the direction the storm is moving in.
You’re able to scroll around in this view and see the weather anywhere, as long as you’re not zoomed out too far. It also works while you’re driving, although it can be a little confusing if you’re trying to pay attention to the navigation system. If you like to have Points of Interest enabled on your map, the weather overlay will hide POIs except for Charging POIs.
The weather overlay works on HW3 but only with Ryzen processors. Intel is once again left out. pic.twitter.com/tzYlJHsWzH
Unfortunately, you’ll need Premium Connectivity for any of the weather features to work, and being on WiFi or using a hotspot will not be enough to get the data to show up. The data, including the weather radar, is provided by The Weather Channel.
As for supported models, weather and weather at destination are available on all vehicles except for the 2012-2020 Model S and Model X. The weather radar has more strict requirements and requires the newer AMD Ryzen-powered infotainment center available on the 2021+ Model S and Model X and more recent Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.
While Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update brought many new features, including Apple Watch Support, Cross Traffic Alerts, Weather Overlays, Search Along Route, and others, there are also several smaller items in this update that didn’t get much attention.
Ambient Lighting Now Affects Easter Eggs
The 2024+ Model 3 and Cybertruck both come equipped with ambient lighting, and Tesla is now taking advantage of this custom lighting feature by incorporating it into several easter eggs.
Rainbow Road: If you head over to Apps > ToyBox > Rainbow Road, you’ll find a new option available that allows the ambient lighting in the vehicle to also change shades while Rainbow Road is active. The Rainbow Road easter egg is a tribute to the iconic course course in Nintendo’s Mario Kart.
Check out the feature in action below:
🇮🇹 Con l’aggiornamento di Natale, quando attiviamo la pista arcobaleno, anche i LED interni diventeranno arcobaleno. Questa è una novità non documentata, scovata da un utente di TESLERS (chiaramente riguarda le Model 3 Highland)
Santa Mode: Just in time for Christmas, Tesla has improved Santa Mode by cycling the ambient lighting between Christmas colors. Similar to Rainbow Road, the use of ambient lighting for the easter egg is optional and can be enabled under Apps > ToyBox > Santa Mode.
When using Santa Mode with ambient lighting turned on, the lights will cycle just between Christmas colors, red, green and white, instead of the full rainbow. There’s a video of the feature below:
The Model S and Model X vehicles that support Steam gaming are receiving a Steam app update in the holiday update as well. This update could end up being very interesting, but for now Tesla says that the SteamOS, which also runs on Valve’s Steam Deck has been updated to version 3.6.
Valve outlines a wide range of fixes and improvements in their release notes for version 3.6, but Tesla simply states that the OS update includes performance enhancements and improved game compatibility.
The SteamOS hasn’t been updated on the Model S and X for quite a while, so we believe there may be more to this besides performance improvements and fixes. We’ll be looking to share some insights into this in the near future.
So, there you have it—three new features in the Holiday update that have mostly gone under the radar. While they may not apply to everyone, there are plenty of other cool features in the Holiday Update, like the arrival of Dynamic Road Closure Routing and Nearby Parking, that are coming to every vehicle, so go check out the full release notes.
![Tesla Updates Santa Mode & Rainbow Road to Use Ambient Lighting and Updates SteamOS [VIDEO]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/tesla-screen/ambient-lighting-santa-mode-rainbow.webp/bd6dd7459fc8963516a33efd3bd54466/ambient-lighting-santa-mode-rainbow.jpg)
![Tesla Builds Cybertruck Tunnel While Production Lines Pause [VIDEO]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/2024/cybertruck-tunnel.webp/822a2c10124f46fe13e0d45cefdd9d33/cybertruck-tunnel.jpg)
![Impressive Tesla FSD Videos: Making Room for Vehicles & Mastering Tight Maneuvers [WATCH]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/2023/fsd-beta-vis-3.jpg/9c0bfda120e9fecc4ddb111b350565ac/fsd-beta-vis-3.jpg)
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