A driver in North Texas made headlines on Monday after deliberately driving his Cybertruck into a lake, apparently to test the vehicle’s “Wade Mode,” according to local authorities.
A spectator captured the bizarre scene at Grapevine Lake, watching with a mix of amusement and disbelief as the driver and a passenger navigated the rocky shoreline. “Yo sir, you can’t park there,” the onlooker quipped in a video shared by Fox 4, just as the Cybertruck began to submerge.
The ill-fated venture saw the vehicle make only a brief foray into the water before encountering a large rock beneath the surface. The impact prompted both men to awkwardly climb out through the passenger window, ultimately wading to safety at a nearby dock, the video shows.
The Grapevine Police Department confirmed that the Cybertruck was quickly rendered inoperable during the brief aquatic experiment. The driver, whose identity remains undisclosed, confessed to officers that he had driven into the lake on purpose to engage the electric vehicle’s “Wade Mode” feature.
The Grapevine Police Department said that the truck “became disabled” moments into the driver’s short-lived seafaring attempt.
The driver, who wasn’t publicly identified, admitted he “intentionally” steered his vehicle into the lake to “to use the Cybertruck’s ‘Wade Mode’ feature,” according to the police department.
Wade Mode is one of the Cybertruck’s four off-road features. It is supposed to work in shallow bodies of water, including rivers, but does not activate automatically, according to the owner’s manual.
“We want to remind drivers that although a vehicle may be physically capable of entering shallow freshwater areas, doing so can create legal and safety concerns under Texas law,” the police department said.
Authorities used a crane to hoist the waterlogged Cybertruck out of the lake later that night.
The driver was arrested and charged with operation of a vehicle in a closed section of the lake, not having a valid boat registration and other water safety equipment violations.
