--- title: "Man Drives Cybertruck Into Lake to Test Elon Musk’s “Boat” Claims, and It Went About as Well as You’d Guess" description: "A man in Texas drove his Tesla Cybertruck into a lake to test its \"Wade Mode,\" which went about as well as you'd expect." date: "2026-05-23" modified: "2026-05-23" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/advanced-transport/man-drives-cybertruck-into-lake" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Brain" - "Electric Vehicles" - "Elon Musk" - "Finance" - "Future Society" - "Health & Medicine" - "Mental Health" - "The Industrialists" --- # Man Drives Cybertruck Into Lake to Test Elon Musk’s “Boat” Claims, and It Went About as Well as You’d Guess ![A silver Tesla Cybertruck partially submerged in blue water, appearing to float like a boat. The vehicle's angular, futuristic design contrasts with the natural water surface.]() *Grapevine Police Department / Futurism* Longtime Cybertruck watchers might remember a peculiar day back before the brutalist pickup was even released, when Tesla CEO Elon Musk [randomly tweeted]() that the vehicle would function as a rudimentary flotation device. "It will even float for a while," he wrote at the time. It wasn't a one-off claim. Musk [later boasted]() that the vehicle would be able to "traverse at least 100m \[330 feet\] of water as a boat." "Mostly just need to upgrade cabin door seals," he claimed, writing [at another point]() that the "Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes and even seas that aren't too choppy."[]() The Cybertruck finally did make it to market, where it's suffered a seemingly endless parade of [recalls](), [embarrassing incidents](), and [dismal sales figures](). Unsurprisingly, all Musk's bluster about the truck serving as a makeshift schooner turned out to be flimflam. In fact, [it quickly emerged]() that [just getting wet]() in a car wash could brick the thing. To muddy the waters further, the company ended up adding [what it calls "Wade Mode]()" to the vehicles, which sets the truck's ride height to the highest level, ostensibly so it can ford creeks and streams. All that mixed messaging clearly got jumbled for a Texas man, though, who activated Wade Mode and drove his Cybertruck into a lake. Unsurprisingly, things didn't go well for him. "Yesterday, \[Grapevine Police Department\] and \[Grapevine Fire Department\] were dispatched to Grapevine Lake, where a Tesla Cybertruck was stranded in the water," police in Grapevine, Texas, [wrote on X-formerly-Twitter](). "The driver drove into the lake to use the 'Wade Mode' feature when the vehicle became disabled." Not only is the man's vehicle swamped — as the cops showed in an amazing attached photo — but he's in legal trouble as well. "The passengers abandoned the vehicle and the driver was arrested," they wrote. **More on the Cybertruck:** *[Cybertruck Recalled to Keep Its Wheels From Flying Off While Driving]()* ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()