A Tesla Cybertruck owner named Joe Fay shared a video of driving through a snowstorm, where the vehicle's cameras became blocked, displaying a warning on the screen. Fay relied on the infotainment system to navigate at low speeds amid poor visibility. The incident highlights challenges for Tesla's camera-based systems in heavy precipitation.
Joe Fay, who goes by @jf.okay on TikTok, uploaded footage of piloting his Cybertruck along a snow-covered road during a storm. The vehicle's screen issued a notice stating, "Multiple cameras blocked or blinded. Clean cameras or wait for them to regain visibility." Fay remarked on the alert while recording, saying, "‘Multiple cameras blocked or blinded’? Yeah, the entire windshield is blocked and blinded."
Visibility was severely limited, with snow obstructing the windshield despite the single wiper. Fay drove at 12 miles per hour, using the large infotainment screen to track the road's position. He noted, "I can’t see anything. Thank God my Tesla can see where the road is because, well, I can’t, and I have no idea."
Comments on the video discussed Tesla's driving systems in snow. One user pointed out that slush and road salt often dirty the cameras, writing, "Tesla + snow and road salt. Not the best situation … front camera constantly dirty from road salt. It tells me to clean the front camera when in FSD, they block you from spraying it." Fay responded that his Cybertruck features AWD and good tires. Another commenter mentioned cameras failing in dense fog, stating, "They’re not very good and thick, dense fog mine would not engage."
The discussion touched on adding radar or LiDAR to Teslas for better performance. Tesla CEO Elon Musk called pursuing LiDAR a "fool’s errand" in 2021, doubting its value for automated driving. However, a 2024 report from The Verge indicated Tesla bought $2 million in sensors from Luminar, a LiDAR manufacturer. A study from Ontario Tech University's Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science found that snowfall degrades LiDAR through signal attenuation, backscattering, false detections, and contamination, ultimately reducing visibility and detection reliability.
Consumer Reports emphasized that tires outweigh AWD for snow traction, with winter tires enabling a front-wheel-drive Toyota Camry to match an AWD Honda CR-V. The group observed, "We found that some of the all-wheel-drive vehicles in our fleet struggled to stay on course when equipped with all-season tires - even in the hands of our professional drivers." Swapping to winter tires from Thanksgiving to spring improves grip. Electric vehicles like Teslas benefit from heavy battery packs lowering the center of gravity, enhancing stability in snow and ice, as noted by PimpMyEV. In 2018, Musk posted on X that even rear-wheel-drive Teslas handle snow well, advising against summer or sport tires.