A system and method for characterizing soil shear strength from a vehicle, comprises a plurality of sensors mounted on a vehicle and configured to measure distances from the sensors to the soil surface. The sensors comprise a first sensor disposed on the vehicle and configured to measure a first distance between the first sensor and the soil and a second sensor disposed on the vehicle and configure to measure a second distance between a the sensor and a track made in the soil by the vehicle, wherein the first sensor measures the distance at a location before the vehicle wheel travels over that location and the second sensor measures the distance to the bottom of the track made by the wheel. A processing module is communicatively coupled to the sensors and is configured to calculate track depth as a function of the first and second distance measurements; and to derive soil shear strength as a function of the calculated track depth and the vehicle parameters.