But it looks like the R1T will be able to turn in a smaller radius than even a Smart car, BMW i3, or any other number of small city cars which benefit from better maneuverability. Rivian can’t really say that this is its “turning radius” since this is for use in slippery situations and not normal roads. Off-roading is fun but is often damaging to natural environments so please tread lightly still. Though, of course, you should do so responsibly. Anything that makes it easier to turn when surrounded by rocks, cliffs, or what-have-you is going to open up new possibilities for the adventurer. We can imagine that this would be a useful feature when off-roading. Rivian is positioning its R1T as an “adventure truck” which will be very capable in off-road situations. And as best we can tell from the video, it looks like the Rivian’s turning radius is no larger than the actual dimensions of the truck. So the truck needs to have a little bit of empty space in front of it before it starts turning.īut then, once it gets going, it just…spins.

Since the truck’s wheelbase isn’t square, it needs to get a tiny bit of momentum going first. Since the feature requires a certain amount of sliding on the part of the tires, it’s not really something meant for regular roads.Īlso, the video shows the truck doing a little bit of a kick-start beforehand. Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe told us the tank turn feature is meant to be used in “low- mu” (i.e. It’s notable that the demonstration happens on mud. Now we have a nice, high-res, well-lit video showing the feature. And we at Electrek have seen a video of their test mule doing the same thing – which we’d love to have released, but it wasn’t public yet. There was a mockup posted to YouTube by a fan earlier this year, but that was CGI. Rivian has been talking about this feature for a while but so far had not released official video. Because the four motors can be driven independently, Rivian runs the motors on one side in forward and the other in reverse. It also enables the Rivian to spin in place – the same way a tank turns.

This has great benefits for traction in off-road (and on-road) situations. This feature allows the Rivian to turn literally on a dime – it can do a full 360º turn without moving at all.ĭue to the Rivian R1T and R1S quad-motor configuration, each wheel can be driven independently.

Rivian gave us a little Christmas present today by releasing real video of an awesome feature they’re calling “tank turn.”

Circle drive vehicle turning radius