The Rivian R1T Will Have A Tank Turn Feature And Spin On The Spot

The Rivian R1T electric pickup truck will receive an innovative system that will allow it to ‘tank turn’.

A video shared online, but quickly deleted due to a copyright claim from Rivian, previewed what this system could look like in action and while it appeared to be CGI and might not have even been an official video from the electric car manufacturer, it did show a feature which company boss R.J. Scaringe has confirmed the vehicle will receive. We captured a GIF of it before the video was removed.

The R1T will be able to perform a ‘tank turn’ and spin in place much like a tracked vehicle thanks to its use of independent electric motors at each wheel. Rivian filed to trademark the terms Tank Turn and Tank Steer with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on October 24, 2018.

Also Read: Rivian’s Biggest Battery Pack Will Be A Massive 180kWh Unit With 8000 Cells

Speaking with Tech Crunch about the feature towards the end of last year, Scaringe confirmed that it would be available on the R1S, R1T, and future quad-drive vehicles that the company is planning. Autoblog asserts that the feature will only be available on dirt and gravel roads to ensure nothing breaks as it could on high-grip surfaces such as a paved road.

In June, Rivian detailed another interesting piece of technology set to be used by its upcoming models, vehicle-to-vehicle charging. To use the system, owners will simply need to connect the two Rivian models and one can send power to the other.

Rivian has secured more than $1 billion in investments from companies including Ford and Amazon and wants to launch both the R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV by the end of 2020.