The Cybertruck Is Getting A New Off-Road Mode. Does It Work?

We haven’t been particularly nice to the Tesla Cybertruck since it was first revealed, and it’s not just because it’s a 7,000-pound monstrosity sold by a company whose CEO is a far-right troll and a man-baby. The trucks themselves have had issue after issue, including one that was bricked by a simple car wash. And for a truck that was supposed to be tough enough to tackle any environment, it isn’t actually very good off-road. Or, at least, it wasn’t. A new over-the-air update appears to have changed that.

When TFLoffroad took its Cybertruck to Moab for the first time, things didn’t go all that great. It wasn’t a complete disaster, but at the same time, it still struggled on what was ultimately a fairly easy trail. At the time, though, they knew a big off-road-focused update was coming, so think of the first test as a baseline that highlights just how much needed to be improved.

After receiving the update, it was time to head back to Moab to see whether it was actually any better off-road. Spoiler alert: It’s a lot better than before. Previous issues such as the throttle control and traction control programming make it much easier to drive, and the addition of a locking differential feature makes it significantly better at actually getting down the trail. Plus, there’s also a crawl control mode, which is always nice to have.

That said, you can’t fix all of the Cybertruck’s off-road issues with software updates. The departure angle is still an issue, as is the forward visibility, and there’s really nothing anyone can do about either one. Thankfully, the cameras appear to have good enough resolution that they’re legitimately helpful off-road. Also, steer-by-wire makes it hard to know what’s going on with the front wheels even if it does come with the benefit of not having to worry about an impact ripping the steering wheel out of your hands. And, of course, it’s still very heavy.