Rivian's New "Kick Turn" Is the Original "Tank Turn" Kicked Up in Usefulness—Here's How It Works

Motor Trend

6 hours ago

Six years ago, Rivian blew up the internet with its preview of "Tank Turn." Everyone wanted the vehicle-spinning wonder feature, but Rivian would eventually declare it delayed without reason. Two years later, we brought you an exclusive deep dive on why Tank Turn, well, tanked. But now it's back, better than ever, and renamed "Kick Turn."
Rivian's Tank Turn is now Kick Turn, a practical off-road tool that allows precise vehicle pivoting. Available on Gen 2 Quad Motor R1 vehicles via OTA update, it features safety measures and requires specific terrain. It's exclusive to Gen 2 vehicles due to advanced hardware and software.
This summary was generated by AI using content from this MotorTrend article Read Next What's Tank Turn?
If you haven't seen the original video, watch it. Tank Turn took advantage of the then-standard quad drive motor setup (one per wheel) in the original Rivian R1S and R1T models to spin the wheels on opposite sides of the vehicle in opposite directions, forcing the Rivian to spin like a top in a muddy field. It's the same way a tracked vehicle like a tank turns, hence the name.
After Rivian put the feature on ice over safety and environmental damage concerns, Mercedes-Benz engineers plowed ahead and brought the same basic idea to market as "G-Turn" on the new quad-motor G580 EV. GMC also promised to do a version of it called 'Hurricane Turn' but has yet to release the feature. Rivian kept quiet, and kept working, even as it lost its first-mover advantage. What's Kick Turn?
The result, Kick Turn, is Tank Turn, but better. Tank Turn was, frankly, a gimmick and Rivian decided if the company were to expend engineering resources on making it safe, it also needed to be a useful tool, not just a toy.
Rather than just spin like a top, Kick Turn is designed to help you pivot the vehicle around tight switchbacks on the trail rather than making a 17-point turn. By giving the driver control over how quickly the vehicle spins and how much it rotates, they can turn it exactly enough to get the job done putting the least wear and tear on the trail.
It was inspired by Rivian engineers' experience on the switchbacks of Black Bear Pass in Colorado during our Trans-America Trail off-road adventure, in which we drove coast-to-coast off-road in all-electric Rivians almost entirely off-pavement.
Final tuning is still ongoing, so Kick Turn will be uploaded to Gen 2 Quad Motor R1 vehicles via an over-the-air (OTA) update in September. How Do You Use It?
Using Kick Turn takes four steps: activate, confirm, select, and accelerate. Activation is done on the drive mode pop-out window on the central touchscreen. Select the off-road mode All Terrain or Rock Crawl, then press the new button in the bottom right corner of the window with a top-down view of the vehicle and arrows indicating a spinning action.
Once activated, the pop-up window will be replaced with the confirmation window. Gear Guard, Rivian's Yeti mascot, appears in a fighting stance and will do a leaping spin kick if you tap on him (tap him four times and he'll get dizzy and sick). Use the slider at the bottom of the window to confirm you want to use Kick Turn (at which point he'll do a multi-spin kick causing his shoe to fly off).
Now, switch your attention to the left side of the instrument cluster. A picture of the steering wheel will have appeared as a guide with blinking dots on the left-right rocker switches on the steering wheel spokes. Press and hold the two left buttons to spin left or the two right buttons to spin right. Kick Turn will only work as long as you press and hold both buttons, a safety feature meant to keep both of your hands on the wheel during the spin.
To actually initiate a Kick Turn, slowly press the accelerator pedal down until the truck begins to spin. The amount of pedal you give it determines how quickly the truck will rotate. When you're ready to stop spinning, gently release the pedal for the smoothest stop. Releasing either button on the steering wheel will also cancel the spin immediately, which will throw you and your passengers around a bit.
Kick Turn doesn't just work when you're at a stop, either. You can initiate it while rolling at up to 15 mph, though be aware that as soon as you've held down the buttons, any input on the accelerator will begin a Kick Turn so you want to coast until you're actually ready to turn.
Not only does it work, but it's actually useful. Rivian had us drive up a narrow mountain trail with tight switchbacks which would normally require a multi-point turn to get around. Instead, we positioned ourselves, activated Kick Turn, and rotated until we were pointed around the corner, then continued on. We also used the feature to navigate a 90-degree turn around a tree which likewise would've taken a number of turns to get around normally.
The hardest part about using Kick Turn is getting used to the controls. Anyone who's done a power slide before wants to turn the steering wheel, but turning it more 150 degrees cancels Kick Turn. Training yourself to keep the wheel straight and turn with the buttons and the accelerator pedal takes practice, especially when you're initiating it while moving. After that, it's learning to time your rolling Kick Turns so you don't initiate them too early, and also get yourself slowed down below the 15 mph limit in time. Then, it's ignoring your instinct to counter steer to end the turn.
Of course, you can still use it as a party trick like the original Tank Turn. Hold down the buttons and the accelerator long enough and the vehicle will do a full 360—or more. Kick Turn is limited to 20 seconds, a failsafe in case the buttons or accelerator were to get stuck and also to keep people from wantonly destroying trails and parking lots. If you just want to spin around in a field, though, it'll let you. We strongly recommend you do it away from people and other vehicles, because it throws rocks a good distance. It'll also wear out your tires more quickly, though with so many variables at play, engineers couldn't offer an estimate.
Rivian also ran us through a course where we drove around a box making perfect 90 degree turns, then ran through a slalom using only Kick Turn. Once you're comfortable with the controls, you can change spin directions as often as you like just by switching which buttons you're holding. So long as you're not holding the buttons, you can drive normally between Kick Turns without turning the system off. The Safeties
There are other limitations to make Kick Turn safer, too. The motors are programmed to recognize how grippy a surface is and will refuse to do a Kick Turn if you're on asphalt. Even wet asphalt is out. You need to be on dirt, gravel, or snow.
The ground also needs to be relatively flat. If the onboard pitch and roll sensors detect the truck is tilted more than 10 degrees in any direction, Kick Turn won't activate. There's also an unspecified yaw limit which keeps the vehicle from rotating too quickly, so it's ok if you floor it during a Kick Turn, it won't spin dangerously fast.
Kick Turn also works with stability control fully on, reduced, or turned all the way off. What Took So Long?
Rivian engineers tell us it wasn't as simple as making time to work on Kick Turn. The new hardware in the Gen 2 R1T and R1S was key to making the whole thing work safely and smoothly.
On Gen 1 vehicles with their original electrical architecture and Bosch-supplied motors, there was too much latency (we're talking hundredths of a second) between driver commands and motor response. It could do Tank Turns, but more precise Kick Turns were almost impossible. The new zonal architecture, new inverters, and in-house motors on the Gen 2 vehicles respond far more quickly to commands, allowing much finer control over the spin. In order to take advantage of this, the software created for Tank Turn had to be completely rewritten for Kick Turn.
This, unfortunately, means Gen 1 trucks are unlikely to ever get Kick Turn uploaded to them retroactively. A Rivian representative confirmed to us it is exclusive to Gen 2 vehicles.
As of right now, the software requires a quad-motor powertrain in order to work. Both front and rear wheels need to drive forwards or backwards on each side of the vehicle in order to do a proper Kick Turn. This means tri-motor and dual-motor powertrains won't be getting it, either, which means the R2 and R3 won't get it as neither is slated to offer quad motors.
That doesn't mean those other powertrains will never get some kind of Kick Turn, though. Engineers told us their looking into ways to offer a similar function with fewer motors, perhaps using individual brakes to at offer a feature like Toyota, Ford, and Mercedes-Benz have developed to force the vehicle to turn tighter, but not do an actual Kick Turn.
And the new name? Partly intended to communicate it's different and better than Tank Turn, and partly to sound less militaristic. Kick-ass, we say.