Key Takeaways
- Tesla Lead Cybertruck Engineer Wes Morril questions the practical use of GMC’s “CrabWalk” feature.
- GMC claims CrabWalk aids in off-roading and parking maneuvers, but Tesla engineer considers it clunky.
- Morril labels CrabWalk unintuitive.
Lead Tesla Cybertruck Engineer Wes Morril has taken to X to question the usefulness of the “CrabWalk” feature that GM has popularized on the GMC Hummer EV. He commented on a video GMC created that showed the upcoming GMC Sierra EV and a couple of Hummer EVs crabwalking in the snow, and while he admits there are benefits to four-wheel steering at highway speeds, he sees no use for it at low speed.
“Does anyone know when this feature is practically useful? Genuinely curious. We played with this in development, but no matter what we tried, it was a clunky/awkward experience with no real use case. If the wheels could turn 90 degrees and you could actually slide sideways, it would be amazing, but 10 degrees is not enough to be useful in parallel parking, and it’s very unintuitive to control.”
– Wes Morril, Lead Tesla Cybertruck Engineer.
What Is CrabWalk?
Morril notes that he’s not trying to berate GM and is genuinely curious, and his are valid points. To GMC’s credit, the company does attempt to explain how the system would be useful. The system works by allowing the rear wheels to run in the same direction as the front wheels up to 10 degrees, depending on your specific vehicle configuration. On the company’s website, it says, “By using CrabWalk, you can traverse off-road trails or maneuver more easily in parking situations.”
“You may want to move your vehicle diagonally in certain off-roading situations or to make some parking maneuvers easier. For example, if the rear of your vehicle is facing an obstacle on the left side and you need to turn your vehicle to the right to get around it, you might risk colliding with the obstacle in Automatic Mode. By moving the vehicle diagonally with CrabWalk, you have the option of moving the vehicle to help avoid collisions with objects within your turning radius.”
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This Is What The Hummer EV’s Crab Walk Looks Like In Real Life
This could come in handy on the highway.
When trying to maneuver something as massive as the Hummer EV, you’ll appreciate any extra maneuverability you can get. It’s tough to see every Honda Fit or Mini Cooper while driving around a parking garage, but it’d be interesting to see how often the feature is activated by real-world users. There must be situations where this actually aids in off-roading, but we have a hard time believing most owners who purchase these $100,000 vehicles will push them hard enough to get them in a situation where the system becomes genuinely useful.
Tesla’s Probably Not Wrong
Even if Tesla is the king of gimmicks, it’s probably not wrong to say the CrabWalk is only really there as an amusing trick, and it appears most of the people who commented on the original post agree. Sawyer Merritt, who originally posted the GMC video, commented, “I would file it in the ‘fun’ category. No real practical use case, but it’s like fart mode in a Tesla, something to show off/play around with.”
Others mention they can see the system being useful for high-speed driving, and four-wheel steering systems like it have been used in high-end sports cars for decades, but it doesn’t appear GMC has any interest in adapting the system for such purposes. As Morril noted, the idea of moving the wheels 90 degrees could be useful for moving in and out of spots you’d normally need to parallel park in, and although Hyundai is working on such a system, it’s far from being ready for passenger vehicle use.
Perhaps Tesla just needs to come up with its own fun, quirky body control system like the GM CrabWalk, Mercedes G-Turn, or Maybach E-Active Body Control (better known as the Maybach Bounce) to feel part of the fun (and appear in even more trendy music videos). After all, the typical Cybertruck buyer is fashion-forward.
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