Pickup beds have not changed much in decades, but Stellantis is quietly sketching out a very different future for how you load, haul, and even walk around your truck. A fresh patent for an angled bed cap points to a world where the box behind you is not just a steel tub, but an aerodynamic, multiuse workspace. If you care about how your next Ram works as hard as you do, the ideas buried in these filings are worth your attention.
Instead of treating the bed, tailgate, and bodywork as separate pieces, Stellantis is starting to design them as one integrated system that manages air, cargo, and access all at once. You can already see that thinking in its deployable steps, sliding carts, and even in how it is reimagining the hood and front trunk on electric models. The new patent is one more clue that your future truck will be shaped as much by clever engineering as by brute strength.
What Stellantis’s Angled Bed Cap Patent Actually Proposes
The latest move from Stellantis, filed under Stellantis (FCA US, LLC), centers on an angled cap that sits over the bed and reshapes how air flows off the back of the truck. Instead of the traditional flat topper or open box, the design tilts the upper surface so air can slide more cleanly over the roof and down toward the tail, which is aimed at improving aerodynamics without turning your pickup into a teardrop-shaped science project. The patent describes an Angled Bed Cap For a Truck Pate that is meant to work with the existing box, not replace it, so you still get a usable cargo area under the sloping shell.
For you, the key promise is efficiency without giving up practicality. The filing frames the concept as Rethinking the Pickup Bed Cover, with the angled surface intended to cut drag while still letting you load gear, tools, or camping equipment under the cap in a way that feels familiar. Stellantis positions the idea as a way to smooth airflow and potentially boost range or fuel economy, while keeping the bed accessible and versatile, a balance that sits at the heart of the Stellantis Secures Patent For Angled Truck Bed Cap concept.
How a Deployable Cart System Could Redefine Loading Your Truck
While the angled cap tackles the air outside your truck, Stellantis is also rethinking how you move cargo inside the bed. A separate patent secured with the USPTO imagines a sliding cart built directly into the load floor so you can pull a platform out toward you, stack it with gear, and then roll it back into place. Instead of climbing into the box or stretching over the side, you would be working at bumper height, which is a big deal if you are loading heavy coolers, tool chests, or bags of concrete on a regular basis.
The idea is to turn the trunk or bed into a kind of rolling shelf that you can configure for work or weekend duty. The filing describes how this New Load Floor Organizer Transforms Trunk or Bed into a more flexible space, with the cart integrated into the load floor of a vehicle so it can slide, lock, and support real weight. For you, that means less strain, faster loading, and a bed that behaves more like a smart storage system than a bare metal box, exactly the kind of change hinted at in the deployable cart system documentation.
The Rear Diffuser That Doubles as a Step
Stellantis is not stopping at the top and bottom of the bed, it is also working on the back edge where trucks usually waste a lot of airflow. A patent highlighted by Viknesh Vijayenthiran July details how Stellantis patented a deployable diffuser that doubles as a bed step, tucking under the rear of the truck while you drive and then swinging down when you park. In motion, the diffuser is shaped to clean up the messy air behind the tailgate, which can help electric trucks in particular squeeze more range out of each charge.
When you stop, that same piece becomes a step that serves as a way to climb into the bed without balancing on a bumper or dropping the tailgate all the way down. The design is aimed squarely at Electric Ram models, with reporting that Electric Ram trucks may feature deployable rear step that doubles as a diffuser so the part that manages aerodynamics also becomes a functional feature while parked. For you, that means a cleaner look, better efficiency, and easier access in one integrated piece of hardware, a combination laid out in detail in both the deployable rear step with diffuser patent coverage and the related Electric Ram reporting.
From Frunk to Hood, Stellantis Is Redrawing the Whole Truck
To really understand where this angled bed cap fits, you have to zoom out and look at how Stellantis is reshaping the rest of the vehicle around it. On the front end, the company has already filed for a multifunctional hood that treats the space above the front trunk as more than just a lid. The design is framed as Redefining Front Cargo Space with Enhanced Accessibility and Design, using the shift toward electric vehicles to rethink how you reach into and organize the Ram 1500 REV Frunk. Instead of a simple panel, the hood itself becomes part of the storage and access strategy.
That approach shows up again in a Dec video breakdown of how the hood and front compartment can work together, where the presenter notes that as EVs have come into full swing, you are starting to see more creative uses of that front compartment, or frunk, on models like the Ram 1500 REV. Stellantis is effectively treating the hood, frunk, and surrounding structure as one system that can be tuned for usability and style, a mindset that mirrors what it is now doing at the back of the truck with the angled cap and integrated bed hardware. You can see that philosophy spelled out in the multifunctional hood patent and in the supporting Dec walkthrough that highlights how the Ram 1500 REV Frunk can be reimagined.
What It Means for Future Ram Trucks You Might Actually Buy
All of these patents would be academic if Stellantis were not actively reshaping its truck lineup, but the product moves are already under way. Stellantis is discontinuing the original Ram 1500 REV and will continue the nameplate by renaming its Ramcharger REEV pickup, a shift that keeps the Ram and REV branding alive while steering buyers toward a range-extended layout with strong towing and payload performance. For you, that means the electric and electrified Rams arriving in showrooms are being developed in parallel with the very patents that could change how their beds, hoods, and rear ends are built.
As Stellantis leans into Ramcharger REEV and other electrified trucks, the pressure to squeeze every mile of range and every ounce of usability out of the body only grows. That is where an angled bed cap that trims drag, a deployable diffuser that doubles as a step, a sliding cart in the load floor, and a multifunctional hood over a rethought frunk all start to look less like experiments and more like the next logical step in truck design. If you are the kind of driver who uses a pickup as both daily transport and rolling workshop, the combination of these ideas could make your next Ram feel smarter, easier to live with, and more efficient, a direction underscored by the Ramcharger REEV pivot that ties Stellantis’s patent playbook directly to the trucks you will actually be able to buy.
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