First Peek at the Tesla Semi Prototype in Action

This quick clip is the first look the public has had of a Tesla Semi on the road since its debut a couple of months ago.
Shelby Rogers

An impressive number of some of transportation's biggest names have all reserved their own Tesla Semi trucks. The last the public has seen of these latest inventions came from Elon Musk's debut of them a few months ago. But now, we finally have a glimpse of one of these test semis in action. 

This short 7-second video clip comes courtesy of Brandon Camargo. Given that the initial debut event was done under some dark lighting, this might be our best view to date of the Tesla Semi in broad daylight. 

This black prototype with the lower roof configuration was spotted in the San Francisco Bay area.

It shows what the original prototypes lacked -- side view mirrors. Tesla originally planned to not have the side view mirrors (as seen in the primary specs of the Semi). However, driving without them is illegal on the road. Some theorize that the Semi performed so well in terms of aerodynamics partially due to its lack of side mirrors. It will be interesting to see how the new additions will affect its performance, if at all. 

Tesla is expected to have the Semis on the market by next year with production going into full swing by this year. The company will have to avoid the production pitfalls it ran into with the Model 3 units, especially given the long list of major companies who reserved their own Semi units. Thus far, that list includes Walmart, Pepsi, Anheuser-Busch, Sysco, UPS, Meijer, and most recently Norwegian postal service Posten Norge.