Many questions were raised by Tesla’s decision to give the updated 2021 Model S and Model X a steering yoke and whether that’s legal and safe, but apparently, the carmaker also had another option hidden inside their website’s code.
And we say “had” because shortly after the discovery of a normal, round steering wheel option, Tesla pulled the image completely from their website’s code.
We don’t know what this means exactly but if we had to guess, it appears that Tesla has already a normal steering wheel ready for the 2021 Model S and Model X, either for customers who value their safety or for government agencies waiting to ban that yoke-shaped steering.
Read More: Tesla Reveals Redesigned Model S And X With New Interiors And A Silly K.I.T.T.-Style Steering Wheel
The Drive found out the hidden option buried inside the code of Tesla’s online configurator, discovering a pair of variables for the rendered interior image. Despite the second option not being available on the site itself, they were able to switch to the other value and generate an image with the round steering wheel.
Tesla’s move to pull the hidden interior image from its website indicates that they don’t want people to see this option just yet, perhaps because they want to retain the hype of the most eye-catching feature of the updated Model S and Model X.
No matter the reason, Musk also raised more eyebrows on Twitter, where he said that in addition to not having any stalks behind the wheel, including a gear selector, the 2021 Model S and Model X “will guess drive direction on what obstacles it sees, context & nav map”, adding that this function can be disengaged through the touchscreen display.
No more stalks. Car guesses drive direction based on what obstacles it sees, context & nav map. You can override on touchscreen.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2021
We don’t know how to react to the news that a car “guesses” when to engage Drive, Reverse, or Neutral instead of letting the driver control the transmission with a physical lever or button. Frankly, it sounds ridiculous and probably quite dangerous, and we wish we had more information on how all this will operate.
In another tweet, Elon Musk added that once you get used to their new system, it “gets very annoying” to back to a traditional PRND stalk/stick. That’s all we know for now until Tesla and/or its CEO decide to share more information. We remind you that Tesla has dissolved its PR department a few months back and so far, official information on the company and its products come from Musk’s Twitter and Tesla’s investor calls only.
After you drive without using a PRND stalk/stick for a few days, it gets very annoying to go back & use a shifter!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2021
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