Rivian is an up-and-coming automaker that’s ready to make some waves in the EV world, pickup truck, and SUV segments. Not only does the upcoming Rivian R1T have a ton of power, but it also has some cool features. Unfortunately, one of Rivian’s most remarkable features, Tank Turn, has been delayed, and it won’t be ready for launch.

Rivian is a very promising company

When Tesla first came into the car world, it was clear that other automakers would follow suit early on. Years later, many small-time automakers have tried to follow in Tesla’s footsteps, but few have succeeded. However, while Rivian is similar to Tesla in many ways, Rivian seems like it could be the best non-Tesla EV company so far.

Currently, Rivian has just started selling its R1T pickup truck to customers. The R1T is remarkable in many ways, too. For example, unlike Tesla, it has four electric motors, each attached to one wheel. This allows the R1T to generate a lot of power and torque, which helps it do its job of being a truck. Not only that, but it also allows the R1T to haul around some big batteries. As a result, it can achieve a range of over 300 miles.

Due to specs like that, it’s no surprise that Rivian, as a company, may be worth about $80 billion already. That being said, one of Rivian’s most hyped-up features, Tank Turn, won’t be available at launch. 

What is Rivian’s Tank Turn?

One of the reasons Tank Turn is so hyped-up is because it’s a feature that is relatively unique to Rivian. Like MotorTrend wrote, this has to do with how many electric motors the R1T has and how they interact with the wheels. Since each wheel has an electric motor, the driver can tell the wheels on one side of the car to spin forward while telling the wheels on the other side to spin backward. 

By doing that, the Rivian will turn like a tank. What that means is that it’ll simply do a donut in place. This can be a cool feature, partially to show off what the truck can do but also to navigate obstacles when off-roading. However, while the idea behind Tank Turn is relatively simple, according to MotorTrend, it’s more complicated than it would appear. 

This is because there are a lot of variables at play. This makes it harder for Rivian and its engineers to program the car to use Tank Turn. As such, that’s precisely why the feature will be delayed.

Why Tank Turn has been delayed

The automaker cares about safety, and while the R1T has a lot of safety features, Rivian wanted to be sure that Tank Turn was safe to use, according to MotorTrend. Essentially, due to the laws of physics, Rivian needs to do a lot of extra programming to make Tank Turn safe. For example, without any safety precautions, the moment Tank Turn is activated, the wheels will lose traction. 

If the Rivian is on an incline, then without traction, the truck will slide towards that direction. That’s not a good thing, so Rivian’s engineers need to program a safeguard against this scenario. Another issue that Rivian’s engineers will have to solve is speed. That’s because, in order to use Tank Turn, the wheels will have to go very fast. This could scare inexperienced drivers and cause them to lose control, and Rivian will need a safeguard. 

So, for those reasons and more, Tank Turn has been delayed. Unfortunately, MotorTrend said that there’s no timeline on when Tank Turn will be available.