The Tesla Cybertruck continues to inch (slowly) towards production and a new prototype spotting shows off the latest step in the process. Clad with steel wheels and a bunch of testing equipment, this Cybertruck was likely undergoing suspension tuning. A new video surrounding the original concept highlights the differences and similarities.
Elon Musk and others from Tesla have continued to proclaim that later this year, the Cybertruck will in fact begin production. We’ve seen evidence of that as well. A pair of Giga Presses showed up at the production facility in recent months and people are spotting various prototypes all over the place.
In this case, it’s the first time that we’ve seen a Cybertruck with this particular combo of steel wheels and testing equipment. According to the folks over on Cybertruckownersclub where these photos first popped up, what we’re likely looking at is a set of wheel force transducers. They allow for very precise measuring of forces on a rotating wheel.
More: New Video Shows The Belly Of Tesla’s Cybertruck
That means that the steel wheels we’re seeing here are likely only for testing purposes. The same can be said of the tires. The data gathered from such testing could influence the final tweaks regarding suspension components and settings.
We already know that it’ll likely have an adaptive air suspension but last week we also learned that its subframe looked primed for lots of travel.
The Petersen Museum recently got its hands on the original Cybertruck concept and it’s amazing how close to the pre-production prototypes it still is. Aside from downsizing the entire truck by about 10 percent, the only blatant changes are the lighting scheme and the fact that the production model won’t have door handles.
We hope this thing does actually make it out of the factory at some point if only to see what years of promises and missed deadlines end up leading to.