Tesla Cybertruck battery armor and rock sliders to be available end of 2024

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Tesla will be rolling out rock sliders and battery armor for the Cybertruck at the end of the year. With the accessories in place, the all-electric pickup truck would be even tougher, even against ridiculous stunts. 

Comments about the Cybertruck’s upcoming accessories were shared on social media platform X by Tesla Cybertruck Lead Engineer Wes Morrill, who was responding to a stunt featuring the all-electric pickup truck driving into fences and allegedly damaging its radiator. 

The social media stunt, which ended with the Cybertruck’s apparent radiator leaking, was promptly used by Tesla critics as a way to mock the all-electric pickup truck and its alleged weakness and design flaws. As noted by Morrill, however, drivers who wish to drive their Cybertruck into fences should probably not remove the vehicle’s bumper and aluminum skid plate, both of which came stock. 

“Battery armor and Rock sliders will be available as a retrofit option end of this year. Also if you plan to drive into fences probably best not to remove the front bumper and aluminum skid plate that come stock,” Morrill wrote in his post on X. 

The Tesla Cybertruck Lead Engineer’s comments are understandable. After all, the Cybertruck social media stunt is pretty much the equivalent of a person buying body armor, removing the protective plates inside it, shooting it, and getting surprised that a bullet went through it.

While the Cybertruck is arguably one of the hottest vehicles today, it also tends to attract a notable amount of dislike, both from anti-electric vehicle individuals and even from longtime electric car fans. Much of this seems to be due to the Cybertruck’s design, which has been polarizing from day one. For better or worse, the Cybertruck has become one of the vehicles of choice for social media influencers, so it would most likely be subjected to even more ridiculous “tests” in the near future. 

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

Tesla Cybertruck battery armor and rock sliders to be available end of 2024





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Tesla CEO Elon Musk teases huge change to Yoke operation of Autopilot

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk is interested in what could be considered a huge change to its Autopilot suite if your vehicle has a Yoke.

Tesla Autopilot features a few Advanced Driver Assistance features that help make vehicle operation “safer and less stressful.” The two features that are included with Autopilot, which comes standard on every Tesla vehicle, are Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer.

Traffic-Aware Cruise Control uses the speed of the vehicles around you to determine how fast they should travel. Autosteer works in conjunction with Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and simply assists in keeping your vehicle in a designated lane.

Musk believes a change might be in store, and it concerns how the Yoke moves during Autopilot operation. After the automaker released Autopark for the Cybertruck early this morning, Musk replied to a video of the feature in action, suggesting what seems like a monumental change:

Musk said:

“We should change that so the yoke is stationary, as it is not mechanically coupled to the wheels. Same goes for when it is on Autopilot.”

It does not seem to be a feature that will impact any vehicle other than the ones that are equipped with a Yoke, as Musk said. It also seems the Cybertruck might be the only vehicle this is suitable for due to the steer-by-wire system it uses.

However, some are not quite sold that it would be the most ideal feature, especially as interventions could become more difficult if the Yoke is not at the same orientation as the wheels.

It brings up a very valid concern. Although Tesla still eventually plans for Autopilot and the Full Self-Driving suite to be fully autonomous and require zero interventions, we are likely years away from this.

It does not seem like it would be the best idea for any other vehicle than the Cybertruck, anyway, due to steer-by-wire.

It would be an interesting change for sure, but Tesla should come up with a solution if it thinks of actually implementing this change.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk teases huge change to Yoke operation of Autopilot





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Tesla Cybertruck conquers muddy hole, helps out stuck Toyota pickup

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The Tesla Cybertruck is simultaneously the most eye-catching and most hated vehicle on the road today. The misinformation surrounding the all-electric pickup truck is also so substantial that a good number of people on social media sincerely believe that the Cybertruck is so fragile that it gets bricked after it goes through a car wash. 

All this negativity surrounding the Cybertruck’s capabilities just means that it becomes extra satisfying when videos emerge showing the Cybertruck performing excellently in off-road scenarios—just as it was designed. This was certainly the case in a recent post from Florida, which shows a Cybertruck conquering a deep mud puddle that got other capable off-road vehicles stuck. 

The video was shared by Cybertruck owner Andrew Hodgdon on the Tesla Cybertruck Facebook Group. As could be seen in the Tesla owner’s video, the mud puddle was quite deep, and it actually took the Cybertruck three tries before it definitively conquered the puddle. The Cybertruck looked impressive overall, especially as it was able to reverse out of the puddle easily during its first two attempts. 

Credit: Andrew Hodgdon/Facebook

As per the Tesla owner, the mud puddle was pretty challenging, and the only other vehicle in the group that was able to conquer it was a lifted Jeep Wrangler on 37s. The Cybertruck, for its part, was equipped with generic 285/65 mud terrain tires, which likely helped the vehicle handle the obstacle. The Tesla owner also noted that he put the Cybertruck on Overland Mode’s All Purpose, Very High setting, plus Wade Mode for good measure. 

Credit: Andrew Hodgdon/Facebook

The video of the Cybertruck conquering the mud puddle incited quite a lot of strong reactions from social media users. Numerous Tesla critics mocked the EV owner and claimed that the vehicle would soon be bricked, while others claimed that the mud puddle was so unchallenging that even a gas-powered sedan could go through it. 

Credit: Andrew Hodgdon/Facebook

In response, the Tesla owner shared more videos from his off-road trip, which showed that the Cybertruck was one of ten vehicles that took on the trail. The EV driver also shared a video showing the Cybertruck being used to pull out an off-road modded Toyota pickup truck that was stuck in the obstacle. In that video, one could see the Cybertruck barely breaking a sweat as it pulled out the combustion-powered truck. 

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

Tesla Cybertruck conquers muddy hole, helps out stuck Toyota pickup





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