Tesla (TSLA) shared an interesting video of its all-electric Class-8 Semi-truck getting tested on an icy road.
This short video came out of Tesla’s winter testing facility in Alaska. Tesla Semi Program Lead Dan Priestly shared a new video of the truck getting tested on a very slippery, icy road.
Dan highlighted Tesla Semi’s ability to maintain stability even in one of the worst possible terrains for a large truck. Tesla has designed and engineered the technology and hardware to make the Tesla Semi-truck as safe as possible on ultra slippery surfaces, like the one you can see in the video below.
“Let’s talk Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC). With high resolution sensing and precise multi-motor controls developed in-house, the Tesla Semi provides torque and stability even on the trickiest of winter surfaces,” Dan wrote on X.
Let's talk Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC). With high resolution sensing and precise multi-motor controls developed in-house, the Tesla Semi provides torque and stability even on the trickiest of winter surfaces. pic.twitter.com/xNvCgyQCFc
— Dan Priestley (@danWpriestley) June 25, 2026
Jackknife Scenario
As we’ve witnessed in the video above, the trailer attached to the Tesla Semi is sliding left and right on the icy surface. Usually, it creates a jackknife situation.
In a jackknife incident, the trailer of the truck folds into the semi-truck’s cabin, like you fold a jackknife. This results in an uncontrolled accident and is not only dangerous for the vehicle but is highly unsafe for other road users as well.
Tesla uses multiple motors and its in-house-made hardware and software to handle the jackknife scenarios as best as possible. Diesel semis most of the time can’t handle this, and the truck folds and ends in an accident.
Although the trailer is sliding to the extreme right and left sides, it’s not folding as a jackknife does. This gives the truck driver the time to react to the situation and ensure the vehicle to further safety.
In a later tweet, Dan Priestly confirmed that the Tesla Semi trailer was carrying a load during this testing. The front side of the trailer (over the 5th wheel) had a large concrete block tied to it, and the rest of the trailer was loaded with solid steel bars.
Tesla Semi Cold Weather Testing
Tesla has its own cold-weather testing facility in Alaska, United States. The automaker performs rigorous evaluation and winter testing at this facility on each of its upcoming vehicles.
Although Tesla has performed cold-weather testing on the Semi-truck in the past, it was done years ago, on the previous prototype. Perhaps the newly designed Tesla Semi is in Alaska for winter testing for the first time.
This cold-weather testing will provide valuable data and analysis that Tesla can use to increase the safety and efficiency of the Semi-truck. The benefits of these tests are eventually going to be passed to the owners and fleet operators of the Tesla Semi.
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