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There’s a unique kind of dissonance that settles in when the machine you’ve been sold as “smarter than a human” can’t see past its own hood. That’s exactly what one Cybertruck owner experienced while driving through a torrential downpour, finding himself at the mercy of both nature and automation. He shared the moment in a Facebook group:
“Is this because of camera vision and no LiDAR?
Not a single car showing up and before this clip my vision was heavily impaired as I couldn’t see 100ft ahead.”
That stark confession laid bare a deeper problem, not just of tech struggling in the wet, but of misplaced trust in a system that’s not quite ready for prime time.
Cybertruck’s Design and Performance
- The Tesla Cybertruck features a distinctive, angular design with a stainless-steel exoskeleton, providing enhanced durability and resistance to dents and corrosion. This robust construction contributes to its futuristic aesthetic and structural integrity.
- The high-performance Cyberbeast variant of the Cybertruck is equipped with three electric motors, delivering an impressive 834 horsepower. This configuration enables rapid acceleration, achieving 0 to 60 mph in just 2.6 seconds, making it one of the quickest trucks available.
- The Cybertruck incorporates cutting-edge technologies, including rear-wheel steering and steer-by-wire systems, enhancing maneuverability despite its substantial size. Additionally, it offers a towing capacity of up to 11,000 pounds, combining utility with advanced engineering.
Tesla has long postured that LiDAR, the industry-standard for autonomous sensing, was unnecessary. Elon Musk himself called it a “crutch,” a cost Tesla didn’t need and a technology inferior to their camera-only solution. And so, the Cybertruck barrels into the world armed with only lenses and algorithms, no radar, no LiDAR, and apparently, no way of seeing through rain. In the video, the truck’s main screen displays a serene, empty digital freeway.
But a glance through the actual windshield reveals a world drenched in water, smeared with wiper tracks, and populated with barely visible cars and brake lights. The computer vision shows nothing. The human eyes? Still struggling, but still seeing something.
Tesla Cybertruck’s Camera-Only Vision Fails in Heavy Rain
This is not the “robotaxi” future we were promised. Tesla’s bet on vision-only Full Self-Driving (FSD) may look clean in lab conditions or sunny Palo Alto streets, but this was the real world, Arkansas, rain-soaked, unpredictable, unforgiving.
“The car that drives itself should forsure have better ‘vision’ than me lmfao,”
Replied Anthony Liempeck, the author of the original post. And he’s right. The entire thesis of autonomy rests on the idea that machines, unburdened by distraction or fatigue, can do better. But here, in a moment that matters, the Cybertruck’s neural net came up blind.
A Heavy Weight Pickup Truck
When your vehicle weighs more than 6,800 pounds, you have a responsibility to more than just your own safety. The rules of the road, slowing down, increasing following distance, aren’t suggestions in bad weather. They’re survival tactics. Yet the FSD system, in this case, seemed oblivious. The visualization didn’t acknowledge nearby vehicles. The screen painted a scene that looked like mid-day traffic in Arizona rather than a storm in the South. This wasn’t merely an optical glitch, it was a total disconnection between digital confidence and physical reality.
Defenders of Tesla’s approach were quick to leap in.
“LiDAR has significant issues with super heavy rain as well,”
Argued Steve Dallas. Others pointed to infrared cameras or suggested that you shouldn’t be using FSD in such weather to begin with. But that’s exactly the point, if Tesla’s system isn’t built to handle situations where human drivers themselves struggle, then what’s the point of replacing us at all?
“You say you can’t see anything but you are driving yet you expect the car that drives itself to have better vision than you?”
Questioned Bradley Barnett, perhaps unaware that he’d just summarized the central problem.
There are signs, faint, quiet signs, that Tesla may be second-guessing its own vision crusade. LiDAR-equipped Teslas have been spotted near the Fremont factory. Maybe they’re validation units, used to benchmark the camera system. Maybe they’re the first quiet steps toward reintegration. Either way, they’re a concession, however implicit, that maybe the holy grail of pure camera vision isn’t as near as it seemed. Even the most diehard FSD loyalists are beginning to ask questions. When the road vanishes and the system fails to react, ideology won’t stop two tons of truck.
Is Camera-Only Autonomy Falling Short?
And make no mistake, the stakes are higher with something like the Cybertruck. This isn’t a nimble hatchback, it’s a behemoth. Its weight and size demand that its systems be more accurate, not less. In the rain, in the dark, in conditions that test human drivers, we need these vehicles to do better, not simply perform when the weather is perfect. But the footage in question doesn’t show confidence, it shows delusion. A hallucinating machine barreling down I-30, blind to everything its owner could still barely see.
The road has no patience for theories. It demands performance. And when that performance fails, when your $100,000 futuristic pickup can’t detect the simple presence of other traffic in a storm, then it’s time to rethink. Not from a place of panic, but of purpose. Because the future isn’t about being first. It’s about being right.
Have you ever found yourself relying on driver assistance features during a storm or in low-visibility conditions? Do you think Tesla should revisit its camera-only approach to Full Self-Driving, especially in vehicles as large as the Cybertruck?
Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below. Your input could help other drivers navigate their own decisions around autonomy and safety.
Image Source: Cyberstuck Subreddit, Cybertruck Owner Facebook Group, Tesla Media Center
Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys covering the latest news in the automotive industry and conducting reviews on the latest cars. He has been in the automotive industry since 15 years old and has been featured in prominent automotive news sites. You can reach him on X and LinkedIn for tips and to follow his automotive coverage.
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Source: torquenews.com
