Elon: Tesla Cybertruck to come with four motors

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.

Earlier this year we also had a potential first peak into the Cybertruck's user interface.

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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Tesla Update 2025.20 Tear Down Reveals Grok Personalities and Icons

@greentheonly on X

While most automakers are adding basic and un-integrated AI assistants to their vehicles, Tesla appears to be working hand-in-hand with xAI to build out an entire cast of characters for in-vehicle Grok. In the latest dive into Tesla’s firmware, Tesla hacker @greentheonly uncovered a few new details about the upcoming Grok feature.

This discovery, part of a larger batch of changes found in Tesla update 2025.20, also offers a hint at the hardware required for the Grok.

A Dozen Groks

While we knew from previous firmware teardowns that Tesla was adding various Grok personalities to the vehicle UI, this update introduces a new one called Language Tutor, which may allow users to learn and practice a new language. 

These are the different personas that will be included in Grok:

• Argumentative

• Assistant

• Conspiracy

• Doctor

• Kids’ Stories

• Kids’ Trivia Games

• Meditation

• Motivation

• Romantic

• Sexy

• Storyteller

• Therapist

• Language Tutor

• and the Grok Classic - Unhinged Mode

Release Date

Icons for these personalities have been added to the firmware for the first time, leading us to think Tesla is getting close to releasing the feature. However, even after the feature is developed and included in vehicle software, Tesla may only enable it selectively — such as for select employees for testing.

Grok is expected to be one of the largest vehicle features added via a software update, so it’ll be a big deal when it’s finally released. While we know more or less what to expect from Grok, what we don’t know is about vehicle requirements or whether it’ll require a subscription beyond Premium Connectivity.

Grok Requirements

While subscriptions required are anyone’s guess, vehicle requirements may be a little clearer now, thanks to Green’s discovery that Grok is only being added to AMD-based vehicle software builds.

Unfortunately, this likely means that older, Intel-based vehicles will not receive Grok support, at least for the time being. When Tesla introduced a voice assistant in China, they also started off with AMD-only support but later added Intel support, so it’s possible that the same could happen with Grok.

Energy Saving

Green also found a new undocumented navigation feature in 2025.20.3. This one focuses on leveraging Tesla’s vast amounts of data in an interesting way and offers drivers proactive advice to save energy on a well-traveled route. 

In the Energy App, your vehicle will display, “This route is typically driven at X mph. Slow down by Y mph to save Z% for the rest of this trip.’ 

As you can see in the photo below, Tesla recognizes that vehicles typically drive at 66 mph on the route being driven and offers the driver the option to go five mph slower to save 1% of range. While this example doesn’t provide much incentive to slow down, it could be useful for someone with a low state of charge or if the savings are more significant.

The new line in the Energy App

Not a Tesla App

In the future, Tesla could even use this, alongside the road surface data they’re gathering, to help plan routes for Robotaxi and Unsupervised FSD.

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NHTSA to Streamline Approvals for Control-Free Vehicles Like Tesla’s Cybercab

Not a Tesla App

In a letter to industry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that it is overhauling its approvals process for vehicles designed without human controls.

The change addresses a regulatory bottleneck that has slowed down American companies like Tesla from deploying purpose-built Robotaxis, rather than relying on using traditional vehicles with steering wheels and pedals. The policy shift is outlined in a letter posted to the NHTSA’s website, which you can find here.

Reducing Approvals From Years to Months

Under the existing rules today, any vehicle that is built without a steering wheel or brake pedals must receive a special exemption from federal safety standards.

Obtaining exemptions for a particular vehicle was a time-consuming process for both the companies requesting exemptions and the NHTSA. The process was often a black box—nobody knew when an exemption might be granted, and approvals could take years.

The NHTSA, under the new administration’s guidelines for autonomous vehicle development, is now committed to streamlining this process. The agency will be implementing a new, faster approach immediately for receiving exemptions for autonomous vehicles without standard controls. The NHTSA expects decisions on exemption requests to be determined within months rather than years. 

Accelerating the Cybercab

This change has massive implications for Tesla, which is banking on the production of the simplified and easy-to-maintain purpose-built Cybercab. The Cybercab is developed from the ground up as an autonomous Robotaxi and will be one of the key beneficiaries of this move by the NHTSA.

Knowing that a final design won't be caught in a multi-year regulatory limbo provides a level of certainty that has been missing. It allows Tesla to confidently plan the manufacturing, development, and deployment processes without worrying whether the project will get stuck in regulatory approvals.

According to the letter, the agency will publish its improved instructions for the streamlined process "shortly." With Tesla already having begun Cybercab pre-production and the goals for its deployment as soon as late 2026, there’s still a lot to be done to make autonomy a part of Tesla’s new sustainable abundance mission statement.

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