Sideways Crawling Electric Off-Road Ford Truck Revealed In Patent
Ford may be doing the crab walk — and crab crawl.
A new patent granted to the automaker shows a four-wheel steering system for electric off-road trucks.
The patent titled “crawl operations for four-wheel steering vehicles” describes an electric vehicle with steering actuators at the front and rear that can turn each wheel independently.
Along with operating conventionally, it is able to steer the front wheels in parallel to the rear wheels to allow the vehicle to drive diagonally.
FORD DESINGNED A REMOVABLE CENTER CONSOLE WITH POP-OUT TABLES AND IT COULD BE FOR THE MUSTANG MACH-E
The GMC Hummer EV and Sierra EV models can do this at up to a 10-degree angle at low speeds in what the brand calls Crab Walk Mode. But Ford’s design has a setting that allows the vehicle to drive sideways at 90 degrees.
Well, less “drive” than “shove,” it turns the rear wheels opposite the fronts then powers both ends toward each other to create a lateral force that pushes the vehicle to the left or right.
SCREAMER! FORD’S ELECTRIC SUPERTRUCK REVEALED WITH ALL THE DOWNFORCE
The function is meant to be used if a vehicle gets stuck on a low traction surface and its wheels are slipping with the alternative movement helping it gain purchase before reverting to normal operation.
It can also pigeon-toe both ends in unison to create a different type of longitudinal force that could help a stuck vehicle break free.
An automatic mode initiated by a button that would return control to the driver when traction is found is suggested.
Ford hasn’t announced plans to put a feature like this in production, but it is working on a second-generation electric pickup codenamed T3.
The vehicle was originally scheduled to go on sale next year, but it has been postponed until 2026 while Ford works to ramp up its hybrid vehicle offerings amid a slowdown in the electric vehicle adoption rate.
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