EVwire brief: In a first for a Class 8 truck, Tesla's production Semi steers electrically instead of relying on the hydraulic compressors and fluid lines conventional trucks use.
Removing that hydraulic hardware makes the system lighter and quieter, according to Tesla, while also giving it more precise, redundant control by design. The company frames the same electric architecture as a foundation for the autonomous driving features it plans to add to Semi down the line.
Here’s how the Semi’s steering system looked, as per Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy and Semi Program Lead Dan Priestley’s presentation during the Tesla Semi’s rollout event:
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During the event, Moravy highlighted that the system reuses steer-by-wire technology Tesla first built for Cybertruck:
“We actually use the technology that we first developed with Cybertruck for a full steer-by-wire system to make it autonomous ready, but also to give the driver something that they don't normally get, which is immensely quick response. You know, one of the things when you're driving a truck is you want to be able to put it where you know, you got 80,000 lbs in the in the back there.
“You want to be able to put it where you want it to go. And with the electric power steering system we have, if you guys have gotten a chance to drive it, or if you haven't, your drivers are going to be super happy because it is the most precise steering system I've ever seen on a Class 8 truck.”
Priestley stated that the precision provided by electric steering shows up most in tight maneuvering:
“You can really put the thing where you want to. Couple that with precise throttle control as well as then a wheel cut that actually lets the truck have nearly the same turning radius as our Model Y and it is a dream to maneuver in those tight situations, whether you're talking urban or you're like doing loading dock maneuvers, like you can really put the truck where you want to and get it down to that last little bit and squeak everything out.”
This is one of several deep dives from Tesla's Semi rollout event. Catch the full rundown of all 10 takeaways here:
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Context:
Ahead of the rollout, drone footage over the Semi Factory already showed a lineup of customer-branded trucks staged and ready for handoff, logos from PepsiCo, US Foods, Einride, LTS, Nevoya, OK Produce, ABF Freight, DHL, WattEV, IMC Logistics and HMD among them, a sign of how wide Tesla's Semi customer base has grown.
Two days out from the event, ZET SCALE committed to 2,500 electric Class 8 trucks with Tesla as its primary OEM, spread across 10 freight hubs. Forum Mobility, separately, is standing up four new heavy-duty charging depots in California worth 30 MW of added capacity, three of them hosting public Megachargers, and more than 330 Semis already have contracted offtake at its FM Santa Fe depot in Rancho Dominguez.
You can also check out our exploration of the Tesla Semi’s drivetrain and Megamanifold below:
Source: Tesla Semi on X
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