Towing GOD: Part 2 - Suspension and Electronics (Newest Video)

[cybertrucktruckguy]

Advertisement

 

[drcarric2650]

As always, great video with great insights. Can't wait for your off road adventure videos, and hope to meet you in 2022 at the get together.

 

[H20]

I'm also hoping that automatic backup mode, combined with summon fsd would allow me to step out of the truck and have it launch my boat. So I can walk up, crank the boat out and park it at the dock quickly. That would be awesome! Especially if it could park itself with the trailer, I wouldn't even have to dock it, I could just take off. The possibilities are mind blowing! I hope they consider these things in design

 

[H20]

Or if when I come back on the boat I could summon the cybertruck back to the launch and pull right onto the trailer!

 

[ajdelange]

You said that we will have independent control of the power to each tire. That's not true. In the TriMotor (the only one of the three that people seriously considering towing will buy) you will have independent control over the rear wheels but the front two are on the same motor. That doesn't mean that torque vectoring at the front is totally absent. They can still do some with differential braking. I mention this first because I think the key to sway control is going to be this rear wheel torque vectoring. Trailer sway arises when a lateral force on the trailer puts a torque on the vehicle around the center point between the rear wheels. Being able to independently control the torque at those wheels can cancel that torque as fast as the system can respond (faster than the driver who often responds in exactly the wrong way thus worsening he sway).

With respect to sticky sockets: when I crank up the trailer it just picks up the back of the car. The only way in which this might be any better with a CT would be because it is heavier. I keep trying to remember to grease the ball but I never seem to have any grease handy. Yes, this is a major PITA.

Rear view camera is a must for hooking up a trailer. But it must be positioned in such a way that the parallax isn't too bad. One sort of gets used to the parallax though. Another problem is that the rear proximity sensors will see the trailer as a vehicle close behind. Towing mode (never tried it with the X) will have to recognize that which shouldn't be a problem.

Automatic backing; i don't know. It's easy enough to use the time honored trick of putting your hand on the bottom of the wheel and moving it in the direction you want the trailer to go. That said I've certainly gotten myself into pickles with this. And outside pressure like a state policeman yelling at you or your new neighbor glowering at you while you are blocking her driveway do not help for sure. I question whether automation can help much with this unless the software can be told the length of your trailer and there are sensors on the trailer so the software knows where it is relative to the truck and obstacles.

The invisible trailer stuff is really cool but requires cameras on the leading and trailing edges of the trailer which must interface with the truck's cameras. Doable, of course, but will Tesla do it?

 

[ajdelange]

Or if when I come back on the boat I could summon the cybertruck back to the launch and pull right onto the trailer!

That would be really cool but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. The software would have to know the dynamics of your truck plus trailer. Summon barely works as it it.

 

[cybertrucktruckguy]

You said that we will have independent control of the power to each tire. That's not true. In the TriMotor (the only one of the three that people seriously considering towing will buy) you will have independent control over the rear wheels but the front two are on the same motor. That doesn't mean that torque vectoring at the front is totally absent. They can still do some with differential braking. I mention this first because I think the key to sway control is going to be this rear wheel torque vectoring. Trailer sway arises when a lateral force on the trailer puts a torque on the vehicle around the center point between the rear wheels. Being able to independently control the torque at those wheels can cancel that torque as fast as the system can respond (faster than the driver who often responds in exactly the wrong way thus worsening he sway).

You are correct. Thought about that while editing but it didn't seem like enough of an issue to re-shoot or edit because it was directionally correct if not 100% correct. I was really thinking in terms of the ford system which actually only uses braking so the acceleration part is just an added benefit on the rear. Since the Semi has 4 motors, I'm also wondering if it will do better at Jacknife prevention than the 3 motor. I suppose we'll See.

Rear view camera is a must for hooking up a trailer. But it must be positioned in such a way that the parallax isn't too bad. One sort of gets used to the parallax though. Another problem is that the rear proximity sensors will see the trailer as a vehicle close behind. Towing mode (never tried it with the X) will have to recognize that which shouldn't be a problem.

Since 'Dock Assist' is a known feature, I'm assuming whatever it is, it'll beat the old method.

Automatic backing; i don't know. It's easy enough to use the time honored trick of putting your hand on the bottom of the wheel and moving it in the direction you want the trailer to go. That said I've certainly gotten myself into pickles with this. And outside pressure like a state policeman yelling at you or your new neighbor glowering at you while you are blocking her driveway do not help for sure. I question whether automation can help much with this unless the software can be told the length of your trailer and there are sensors on the trailer so the software knows where it is relative to the truck and obstacles.

The invisible trailer stuff is really cool but requires cameras on the leading and trailing edges of the trailer which must interface with the truck's cameras. Doable, of course, but will Tesla do it?

Yeah, if you tow a lot, then backup assist kind of fades away but I know from all the comments I get on the videos that the Cybertruck is the first truck for a lot of people. Having some help on that front when you're a rookie or do it infrequently should empower more people to try it.

My point with the 'invisible trailer' wasn't so much about that particular feature, but rather a representation of what kinds of things might be achieved primarily via software, sensors and cameras. To me, Tesla has the clear advantage in the capacity to introduce new features long after the vehicle leaves the assembly line, not just because of OTA updates, but because of the compute and sensor tech that will be built into every Cybertruck.

 

[cybertrucktruckguy]

As always, great video with great insights. Can't wait for your off road adventure videos, and hope to meet you in 2022 at the get together.

Thanks.

I'm looking forward to the rally too. Should be a blast.

 

[cybertrucktruckguy]

I'm also hoping that automatic backup mode, combined with summon fsd would allow me to step out of the truck and have it launch my boat. So I can walk up, crank the boat out and park it at the dock quickly. That would be awesome! Especially if it could park itself with the trailer, I wouldn't even have to dock it, I could just take off. The possibilities are mind blowing! I hope they consider these things in design

Yeah, someone in my YouTube comments actually suggested that the 'Trailer Docking' feature might actually be where you hold your phone to the hitch and the truck backs up to you as if in a backwards 'summon' mode. Makes me curious what they have in mind.

 

[H20]

Yeah, someone in my YouTube comments actually suggested that the 'Trailer Docking' feature might actually be where you hold your phone to the hitch and the truck backs up to you as if in a backwards 'summon' mode. Makes me curious what they have in mind.

Sounds awesome! As usual another great video, thanks for your insights. It's fun to speculate on the degree of mind blowing features this truck could be capable of, but your videos always seem well informed. Can't wait to see the next one.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

I agree with all those points and thank you very much for the discussion. The one thing that I 'always' have a PITA with that you didn't mention, and this is probably because I only tow a handful of times a year, is my tow hitch wiring. No matter how much I cover the wiring or wire brush the leads, I always have problems with the brake lights and turn indicators. I know that there are solutions out there, but just being able to see on the screen that the connection is or isn't good would be very helpful.

 

[ajdelange]

I'll just point out that the X currently has this feature.