Allegedly, this Cybertruck Police cruiser concept is coming out “very soon.”
If we told you that a massive technology firm revealed plans to mass-produce a utilitarian police vehicle with a stainless steel body, you might think we were describing the plot of a Robocop spinoff. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, because Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison recently revealed plans to create a police cruiser based on the Tesla Cybertruck.
It might seem strange that a technology company like Oracle is getting in the business of producing police cars, but the firm has actually worked with law enforcement for a while now. Oracle currently builds communications and technology software solutions for police, fire, and first responder agencies. The Cybertruck wouldn’t be the company’s first police vehicle, either; the first first was based on the 2022 Ford Explorer. However, the Explorer required the installation of additional equipment to work with Oracle’s systems, such as adding a large Android tablet to the center of the dashboard.
Ellison says the Cybertruck police vehicle won’t require such modifications. “We use their [Tesla’s] existing cameras and existing screen,” said Ellison. Oracle would just simply install its proprietary software and the Cybertruck’s hardware would do the rest. Ellison claims we won’t have to wait long before its dystopian inspired law enforcement transport will start arriving at police departments.
“Our next-generation police car is coming out very soon. It’s my favorite police car; it’s my favorite car actually. It’s Elon Musk’s favorite car. It’s incredible. I know too much about it, some of it is still to be disclosed,” said Ellison during Oracle’s CloudWorld 2023 keynote via InsideEVs. It should be clear that as of now, this is only a concept, and there was no mention of a working prototype.
The rendering shown here doesn’t reveal any heavy modifications to the Cybertruck other than adding external police lights and a massive ram-style bumper. There’s also the massive Oracle logo on the side of the Cybertruck, which presumably would be replaced by local departments’ liveries. It also appears that the truck’s color is changed to black but Ellison stated that the police version of the Cybertruck will retain its stainless steel body panels, so the black color may be a vinyl wrap, or who knows.
Will the Oracle Tesla Cybertruck police cruiser have more range than a standard model? Will there be special reinforcement to protect the battery cells in case of a collision? Will it have more frunk storage space? Police vehicles have very different demands from normal cars and Ellison did not detail what other modifications would be done to the Cybertruck to make it fit for duty. He only said that it will be “very safe,” and “very fast.” Whether it gets here very fast is, well, dependent on the oft-delayed Cybertruck’s arrival in customer hands. That’s been promised for later this year, but as they say, Tesla has the right to remain shifty on that timeline.