SbW Steer by Wire testing day review (by a steering systems engineer)

[Dazureus]

Caveat: I'll be keeping this post a little vague to preserve some anonymity but I'm sure if you want to put energy into snooping you can discover specific details.

I'm an embedded software engineer at one of the largest OEM parts provider that engineers and manufactures steering systems for multiple automotive companies. I've been in steering systems for 4 years and previously worked in software for IPC at another large OEM parts provider company for 9 years.

I received my Cyberbeast a few weeks back and I guess word spread so someone from R&D contacted me to request a day for evaluation. I've been wondering how the Tesla SbW and rear wheel steering stacks up so of course I jumped on the chance to get some professional opinions. I'm not a steer feel guy and our dedicated steer feel guy wasn't onsite for the day so I didn't get his opinion, which would have been nice since they're super picky. Whether it's legit or not, they say they can feel a handwheel difference of 0.1 N*m.

What we did have was a bunch of Mech E from R&D who were interested in driving around the track to observe how the Tesla SbW and rear steer feels. Lots of forward and reverse figure 8s, lock to lock turning, parallel park testing, laps around the steer feel track and road conditions course, and of course, multiple launches on the straight track (for fun). Here's a general list of the comments:

The steering felt completely natural and balanced. Road feedback was very well executed and minds were blown with the turning radius. Mulitple comments like "My car can't make this tight of a u-turn in this pad" and "Other full sized trucks take the entire radius of this curve to complete". The driving ergonomics engineer liked the squircle, especially the little diagonal parts at 10 and 2. Others thought the over all size of the squircle looked small, but drove and felt fine and completely appropriate.

The road conditions course consisted of multiple road surface roughnesses. Asphalt rumble strips, washboard, swells, rough stone road (right), and cobble (left). These surfaces are used to test steering mechanical systems for gear lash, belt slip, etc. Basically you drive over these surfaces to rattle everything and make sure the mechanics of the steering aren't being jostled enough to slip and cause sensor errors. There's also a round area filled with those cobbles that you turn around in at full lock to test additional external torque forces of the steering system to see if scrubbing the wheels at full lock will cause any issues. I put it in off-road mode for this part. The test driver was very happy with how the Tesla SbW felt on these surfaces and was amazed how the suspension acted on the straight cobble portion. He was a bit giddy when he got it up to 27 mph at the end and the ride really smoothed out a bit, which isn't unexpected.

The only not positive comment was that the braking wasn't spectacular, but the regenerative breaking was great. It's not a sports car and you shouldn't expect sports car braking. One engineer that I let drive for an extended time (~2 hrs) commented that it was "... the best driving vehicle I have ever piloted"

Of course everyone was giddy when I launched in Beast mode and I was surprised to lay down some rubber because I could never get my Model X to break traction on launch.

There were some visual inspections but no disassembly and a few of the bosses heard the Cybertruck was on-site so of course they had to get some wheel time. They were looking into aquiring one but the only options were Turo at $1000/day with no gauaruntee on when it would be available, or waiting just like everyone else to purchase one. In all a fun (paid) workday for me and some intersting insight on how the people developing the tech feels about it.

Sponsored

 

[Stuck4ger]

Nice write-up, thanks for sharing.

 

[GFleck]

Others thought the over all size of the squircle looked small, but drove and felt fine and completely appropriate.

One of my few concerns before getting my CT was the squircle, it looked so small in photos, it still looks a bit small. BUT, I love how comfortable and natural it feels! Best steering control in any vehicle I've owned.

 

[Dazureus]

One of my few concerns before getting my CT was the squircle, it looked so small in photos, it still looks a bit small. BUT, I love how comfortable and natural it feels! Best steering control in any vehicle I've owned.

I agree. Ergo engineer spend the day watching how everyone was handling the squircle while driving. I'm a conservative driver and mostly drove with my right hand at 4 o'clock while resting my elbow on the center arm rest and left hand off, sometimes using both hands at 10 and 2 when in unsure conditions. For others not used to the design, they quickly stopped using hand over hand for turns, but still used two hands when the squircle was at 90 degrees holding at 9 and 3 on the 0 degree position top 12 and 6. Ergo engineer usually drives with his left knee up and rested his left arm on it while pinching the wheel at the 7 or 8. He found it was completely natural to drive the truck at 10 and 2 on the diagonal parts.

After driving for a few weeks, I find that I have to lower the tilt, lower than I would with a traditional round wheel to have a relaxed position with the arm rests. I wish the column extended further, but it's not a stowable column design and I heard some Mech E mumbo jumbo about how the air bag limited column travel or something.

 

[CyberTW]

Caveat: I'll be keeping this post a little vague to preserve some anonymity but I'm sure if you want to put energy into snooping you can discover specific details.

I'm an embedded software engineer at one of the largest OEM parts provider that engineers and manufactures steering systems for multiple automotive companies. I've been in steering systems for 4 years and previously worked in software for IPC at another large OEM parts provider company for 9 years.

I received my Cyberbeast a few weeks back and I guess word spread so someone from R&D contacted me to request a day for evaluation. I've been wondering how the Tesla SbW and rear wheel steering stacks up so of course I jumped on the chance to get some professional opinions. I'm not a steer feel guy and our dedicated steer feel guy wasn't onsite for the day so I didn't get his opinion, which would have been nice since they're super picky. Whether it's legit or not, they say they can feel a handwheel difference of 0.1 N*m.

What we did have was a bunch of Mech E from R&D who were interested in driving around the track to observe how the Tesla SbW and rear steer feels. Lots of forward and reverse figure 8s, lock to lock turning, parallel park testing, laps around the steer feel track and road conditions course, and of course, multiple launches on the straight track (for fun). Here's a general list of the comments:

The steering felt completely natural and balanced. Road feedback was very well executed and minds were blown with the turning radius. Mulitple comments like "My car can't make this tight of a u-turn in this pad" and "Other full sized trucks take the entire radius of this curve to complete". The driving ergonomics engineer liked the squircle, especially the little diagonal parts at 10 and 2. Others thought the over all size of the squircle looked small, but drove and felt fine and completely appropriate.

The road conditions course consisted of multiple road surface roughnesses. Asphalt rumble strips, washboard, swells, rough stone road (right), and cobble (left). These surfaces are used to test steering mechanical systems for gear lash, belt slip, etc. Basically you drive over these surfaces to rattle everything and make sure the mechanics of the steering aren't being jostled enough to slip and cause sensor errors. There's also a round area filled with those cobbles that you turn around in at full lock to test additional external torque forces of the steering system to see if scrubbing the wheels at full lock will cause any issues. I put it in off-road mode for this part. The test driver was very happy with how the Tesla SbW felt on these surfaces and was amazed how the suspension acted on the straight cobble portion. He was a bit giddy when he got it up to 27 mph at the end and the ride really smoothed out a bit, which isn't unexpected.

The only not positive comment was that the braking wasn't spectacular, but the regenerative breaking was great. It's not a sports car and you shouldn't expect sports car braking. One engineer that I let drive for an extended time (~2 hrs) commented that it was "... the best driving vehicle I have ever piloted"

Of course everyone was giddy when I launched in Beast mode and I was surprised to lay down some rubber because I could never get my Model X to break traction on launch.

There were some visual inspections but no disassembly and a few of the bosses heard the Cybertruck was on-site so of course they had to get some wheel time. They were looking into aquiring one but the only options were Turo at $1000/day with no gauaruntee on when it would be available, or waiting just like everyone else to purchase one. In all a fun (paid) workday for me and some intersting insight on how the people developing the tech feels about it.

Thank you for your write up coming from a industry professional

 

[HaulingAss]

Caveat: I'll be keeping this post a little vague to preserve some anonymity but I'm sure if you want to put energy into snooping you can discover specific details.

I'm an embedded software engineer at one of the largest OEM parts provider that engineers and manufactures steering systems for multiple automotive companies. I've been in steering systems for 4 years and previously worked in software for IPC at another large OEM parts provider company for 9 years.

I received my Cyberbeast a few weeks back and I guess word spread so someone from R&D contacted me to request a day for evaluation. I've been wondering how the Tesla SbW and rear wheel steering stacks up so of course I jumped on the chance to get some professional opinions. I'm not a steer feel guy and our dedicated steer feel guy wasn't onsite for the day so I didn't get his opinion, which would have been nice since they're super picky. Whether it's legit or not, they say they can feel a handwheel difference of 0.1 N*m.

What we did have was a bunch of Mech E from R&D who were interested in driving around the track to observe how the Tesla SbW and rear steer feels. Lots of forward and reverse figure 8s, lock to lock turning, parallel park testing, laps around the steer feel track and road conditions course, and of course, multiple launches on the straight track (for fun). Here's a general list of the comments:

The steering felt completely natural and balanced. Road feedback was very well executed and minds were blown with the turning radius. Mulitple comments like "My car can't make this tight of a u-turn in this pad" and "Other full sized trucks take the entire radius of this curve to complete". The driving ergonomics engineer liked the squircle, especially the little diagonal parts at 10 and 2. Others thought the over all size of the squircle looked small, but drove and felt fine and completely appropriate.

The road conditions course consisted of multiple road surface roughnesses. Asphalt rumble strips, washboard, swells, rough stone road (right), and cobble (left). These surfaces are used to test steering mechanical systems for gear lash, belt slip, etc. Basically you drive over these surfaces to rattle everything and make sure the mechanics of the steering aren't being jostled enough to slip and cause sensor errors. There's also a round area filled with those cobbles that you turn around in at full lock to test additional external torque forces of the steering system to see if scrubbing the wheels at full lock will cause any issues. I put it in off-road mode for this part. The test driver was very happy with how the Tesla SbW felt on these surfaces and was amazed how the suspension acted on the straight cobble portion. He was a bit giddy when he got it up to 27 mph at the end and the ride really smoothed out a bit, which isn't unexpected.

The only not positive comment was that the braking wasn't spectacular, but the regenerative breaking was great. It's not a sports car and you shouldn't expect sports car braking. One engineer that I let drive for an extended time (~2 hrs) commented that it was "... the best driving vehicle I have ever piloted"

Of course everyone was giddy when I launched in Beast mode and I was surprised to lay down some rubber because I could never get my Model X to break traction on launch.

There were some visual inspections but no disassembly and a few of the bosses heard the Cybertruck was on-site so of course they had to get some wheel time. They were looking into aquiring one but the only options were Turo at $1000/day with no gauaruntee on when it would be available, or waiting just like everyone else to purchase one. In all a fun (paid) workday for me and some intersting insight on how the people developing the tech feels about it.

Thanks for the report.

Cheers!

 

[Gundo]

Pretty remarkable to read. OEMs have legions of dedicated engineers with decades of experience to get steering feel right.

And Tesla was able to build something completely new and innovative and blow their minds? I’m more impressed with CT everyday.

It truly the best driving vehicle I’ve ever had. Blows our 2018 Raptor away. And I love that truck!!

 

[rtfitch]

Caveat: I'll be keeping this post a little vague to preserve some anonymity but I'm sure if you want to put energy into snooping you can discover specific details.

I'm an embedded software engineer at one of the largest OEM parts provider that engineers and manufactures steering systems for multiple automotive companies. I've been in steering systems for 4 years and previously worked in software for IPC at another large OEM parts provider company for 9 years.

I received my Cyberbeast a few weeks back and I guess word spread so someone from R&D contacted me to request a day for evaluation. I've been wondering how the Tesla SbW and rear wheel steering stacks up so of course I jumped on the chance to get some professional opinions. I'm not a steer feel guy and our dedicated steer feel guy wasn't onsite for the day so I didn't get his opinion, which would have been nice since they're super picky. Whether it's legit or not, they say they can feel a handwheel difference of 0.1 N*m.

What we did have was a bunch of Mech E from R&D who were interested in driving around the track to observe how the Tesla SbW and rear steer feels. Lots of forward and reverse figure 8s, lock to lock turning, parallel park testing, laps around the steer feel track and road conditions course, and of course, multiple launches on the straight track (for fun). Here's a general list of the comments:

The steering felt completely natural and balanced. Road feedback was very well executed and minds were blown with the turning radius. Mulitple comments like "My car can't make this tight of a u-turn in this pad" and "Other full sized trucks take the entire radius of this curve to complete". The driving ergonomics engineer liked the squircle, especially the little diagonal parts at 10 and 2. Others thought the over all size of the squircle looked small, but drove and felt fine and completely appropriate.

The road conditions course consisted of multiple road surface roughnesses. Asphalt rumble strips, washboard, swells, rough stone road (right), and cobble (left). These surfaces are used to test steering mechanical systems for gear lash, belt slip, etc. Basically you drive over these surfaces to rattle everything and make sure the mechanics of the steering aren't being jostled enough to slip and cause sensor errors. There's also a round area filled with those cobbles that you turn around in at full lock to test additional external torque forces of the steering system to see if scrubbing the wheels at full lock will cause any issues. I put it in off-road mode for this part. The test driver was very happy with how the Tesla SbW felt on these surfaces and was amazed how the suspension acted on the straight cobble portion. He was a bit giddy when he got it up to 27 mph at the end and the ride really smoothed out a bit, which isn't unexpected.

The only not positive comment was that the braking wasn't spectacular, but the regenerative breaking was great. It's not a sports car and you shouldn't expect sports car braking. One engineer that I let drive for an extended time (~2 hrs) commented that it was "... the best driving vehicle I have ever piloted"

Of course everyone was giddy when I launched in Beast mode and I was surprised to lay down some rubber because I could never get my Model X to break traction on launch.

There were some visual inspections but no disassembly and a few of the bosses heard the Cybertruck was on-site so of course they had to get some wheel time. They were looking into aquiring one but the only options were Turo at $1000/day with no gauaruntee on when it would be available, or waiting just like everyone else to purchase one. In all a fun (paid) workday for me and some intersting insight on how the people developing the tech feels about it.

Thanks for this to the point and detailed report...it just reinforced my stoic stance of waiting, and waiting, for The Beast. (the ice continues to melt, though)

 

[tingmo13]

I'm glad OEM scrutinizing Tesla's innovation: NO start button, NO stalk, OTA software updates and now Cybertruck's tech is putting/leaving legacy autos far behind-catch up is very essential for once own survival. Darwin always knocks on the door.

 

[HaulingAss]

Thanks for this to the point and detailed report...it just reinforced my stoic stance of waiting, and waiting, for The Beast. (the ice continues to melt, though)

The steer by wire and four-wheel steering give the Cybertruck an amazing driving experience that you will never tire of. In fact, it will be hard to go back to the old way, it will feel archaic.

 

[RayzorBEV]

The steer by wire and four-wheel steering give the Cybertruck an amazing driving experience that you will never tire of. In fact, it will be hard to go back to the old way, it will feel archaic.

I feel the same way. When I drive my Cyberbeast and my R1T back to back, the R1T drives like it's from the past, the Cyberbeast, from the future. The only thing missing from the Cyberbeast is Tesla's Vision Park Assist and Autopilot. which we now know they're coming next month. Yay!?

 

[JBee]

Caveat: I'll be keeping this post a little vague to preserve some anonymity but I'm sure if you want to put energy into snooping you can discover specific details.

I'm an embedded software engineer at one of the largest OEM parts provider that engineers and manufactures steering systems for multiple automotive companies. I've been in steering systems for 4 years and previously worked in software for IPC at another large OEM parts provider company for 9 years.

I received my Cyberbeast a few weeks back and I guess word spread so someone from R&D contacted me to request a day for evaluation. I've been wondering how the Tesla SbW and rear wheel steering stacks up so of course I jumped on the chance to get some professional opinions. I'm not a steer feel guy and our dedicated steer feel guy wasn't onsite for the day so I didn't get his opinion, which would have been nice since they're super picky. Whether it's legit or not, they say they can feel a handwheel difference of 0.1 N*m.

What we did have was a bunch of Mech E from R&D who were interested in driving around the track to observe how the Tesla SbW and rear steer feels. Lots of forward and reverse figure 8s, lock to lock turning, parallel park testing, laps around the steer feel track and road conditions course, and of course, multiple launches on the straight track (for fun). Here's a general list of the comments:

The steering felt completely natural and balanced. Road feedback was very well executed and minds were blown with the turning radius. Mulitple comments like "My car can't make this tight of a u-turn in this pad" and "Other full sized trucks take the entire radius of this curve to complete". The driving ergonomics engineer liked the squircle, especially the little diagonal parts at 10 and 2. Others thought the over all size of the squircle looked small, but drove and felt fine and completely appropriate.

The road conditions course consisted of multiple road surface roughnesses. Asphalt rumble strips, washboard, swells, rough stone road (right), and cobble (left). These surfaces are used to test steering mechanical systems for gear lash, belt slip, etc. Basically you drive over these surfaces to rattle everything and make sure the mechanics of the steering aren't being jostled enough to slip and cause sensor errors. There's also a round area filled with those cobbles that you turn around in at full lock to test additional external torque forces of the steering system to see if scrubbing the wheels at full lock will cause any issues. I put it in off-road mode for this part. The test driver was very happy with how the Tesla SbW felt on these surfaces and was amazed how the suspension acted on the straight cobble portion. He was a bit giddy when he got it up to 27 mph at the end and the ride really smoothed out a bit, which isn't unexpected.

The only not positive comment was that the braking wasn't spectacular, but the regenerative breaking was great. It's not a sports car and you shouldn't expect sports car braking. One engineer that I let drive for an extended time (~2 hrs) commented that it was "... the best driving vehicle I have ever piloted"

Of course everyone was giddy when I launched in Beast mode and I was surprised to lay down some rubber because I could never get my Model X to break traction on launch.

There were some visual inspections but no disassembly and a few of the bosses heard the Cybertruck was on-site so of course they had to get some wheel time. They were looking into aquiring one but the only options were Turo at $1000/day with no gauaruntee on when it would be available, or waiting just like everyone else to purchase one. In all a fun (paid) workday for me and some intersting insight on how the people developing the tech feels about it.

I remember all the long conversations we had about if the front was or wasn't SbW...good times.

My biggest concern with the squircle was how it would react to hard impacts, like off-road and driving up curbs, and kickback the steering wheel with hard angles. Obviously, having SbW means you can simply dial down the kickback on the squirecle and save yourself from any potential injury claims.

I've been away for a while, but do you know if they sorted out the "Critical Failure" steering errors in the end?
Was it hardware/software?

 

[HaulingAss]

I remember all the long conversations we had about if the front was or wasn't SbW...good times.

My biggest concern with the squircle was how it would react to hard impacts, like off-road and driving up curbs, and kickback the steering wheel with hard angles. Obviously, having SbW means you can simply dial down the kickback on the squirecle and save yourself from any potential injury claims.

I've been away for a while, but do you know if they sorted out the "Critical Failure" steering errors in the end?
Was it hardware/software?

I don't have any particular new knowledge, but since other cars with the same software version had no problem, the fix was almost certainly simply replacing the defective part (or plugging in a connector, etc.).

 

[Dazureus]

I remember all the long conversations we had about if the front was or wasn't SbW...good times.

My biggest concern with the squircle was how it would react to hard impacts, like off-road and driving up curbs, and kickback the steering wheel with hard angles. Obviously, having SbW means you can simply dial down the kickback on the squirecle and save yourself from any potential injury claims.

I've been away for a while, but do you know if they sorted out the "Critical Failure" steering errors in the end?
Was it hardware/software?

I wasn't driving when we were doing circles over the large rocks, but the engineer that was said there weren't any abnormal forces on the handwheel due to any road wheel deflection, and the road wheel deflection was minimal to nonexistent. The rocks on that part of the course were approximately 8-10 inches in diameter and exposed at various depths. Not as smooth as a cobble stone street, but not as raw as a mountainous wash full of mining tailings. It was a bit windy that day and on the road test, he seemed to think there was some kind of wind drift mitigation going on, or maybe the truck was heavy enough to ignore the cross winds.

As for steering ratio changes at speeds, he seemed to feel that there were at least 3-4 ratio transition points. He also commented that at a highway speed lane change maneuver, you probably wouldn't see the rear wheel deflection as it only takes 1-2 degrees to make a difference.

 

[mhaze]

The steer by wire and four-wheel steering give the Cybertruck an amazing driving experience that you will never tire of. In fact, it will be hard to go back to the old way, it will feel archaic.

I'm curious if anyone feels the way I do. I had thought about keeping my Tesla Model 3 after getting the CT, because I like the sporty way the 3 performs. But the CT at least matches it, and genuinely makes you feel like you're driving a little pony car.

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