Tesla's Cybertruck is receiving backlash across Europe, particularly due to safety concerns for pedestrians. While no testing has been done by Euro NCAP, the voluntary but influential car safety assessment program in Europe, it was already a cause of alarm in mere visual scrutiny-over the sharp angular design, which could pose a very serious threat to pedestrians. Indeed, Wired reports Matthew Avery, Euro NCAP's strategic development director, saying that the Cybertruck may garner a very poor safety rating, which would probably be lethal for sales.

Already there are so few Cybertrucks registered in the EU that European transport nongovernmental organizations have reacted by calling for the trucks to be withdrawn from public roads, deeming their oversized, sharp-edged design an "open invitation" to violation of European safety standards and a danger to pedestrians, cyclists, and other motorists.

Some U.S. safety experts agree. One called the Cybertruck a "guideless missile" when interviewed by Business Insider late last year. The bigger question is what it means for the truck's future in Europe, where there's far more focus on pedestrian protection than in the U.S.