A timelapse recording of the atmospheric effects of a solar storm seen across the Hawke's Bay skyline. Video / Timothy Jones
Some Starlink users and Tesla drivers have reported service wobbles which seem to be related to the solar storm.
“It was definitely messing with the GPS on the Tesla last night. On the motorway it kept jumping thinking it was on a road alongside the motorway, which messedwith the autopilot as it then tried to drop the speed to 50[km/h], which is not ideal at motorway speed,” Auckland Tesla owner Anthony Marter posted on X today.
The aurora caught from Mt Eden, Auckland on Saturday night Solar storms look spectacular, but can also interfere with satellites and other electronics. Photo / Matt Smith
Technology commentator and fellow Tesla owner Paul Spain replied, “I had a similar situation too - [the] autopilot must have thought it was on motorway rather than Great North Road near Motat, as it decided [the] speed limit was 100km/h. Plus it was phantom-braking on the motorway and on residential roads.”
Major geomagnetic solar storm happening right now. Biggest in a long time. Starlink satellites are under a lot of pressure, but holding up so far. pic.twitter.com/TrEv5Acli2
Marter added, “Yeah, the phantom braking caught me out a few times too ... Definitely a bad idea to use autopilot during this kind of event!”
Tesla does not offer full self-drive (where a car drives itself) in New Zealand, but it does offer the semi-automated autopilot mode.
Tesla chief executive and Starlink founder Elon Musk posted on Saturday evening, NZ time: “Major geomagnetic solar storm happening right now. Biggest in a long time. Starlink satellites are under a lot of pressure, but holding up so far.”
Musk did not immediately address the apparent Tesla autopilot issues.
In the US, the solar storm has disrupted farmer GPS systems during critical planting time, according to reports. The Real-Time Kinematic” (RTK) systems used by John Deere and other tractor brands could not operate with their usual precision because of electromagnetic interference from the storm.
Multiple New Zealand users of the Starlink satellite broadband satellite service told the Herald this morning they have experienced no issues over the past 24 hours.
Andrew Bowman, a Starlink customer in Mangatāwhiri (between Pukekohe and Hampton Downs, south of Auckland) sent the Herald a screen grab of a micro-outage and reboot in the wee small hours.
Image / Andrew Bowman
But other than that, his internet connection had been “perfect”.
Others around the country said the same, though a Tauranga Starlink installer sent the Herald a copy of a “degraded service” alert received by one Starlink customer.
A Tauranga Starlink installer sent the Herald a copy of a “degraded service” alert received by one Starlink customer.
Starlink has around 6000 satellites in orbit, which provide an internet-from-space service for customers with one of the service’s dishes installed on their home or small business’ roof. From later this year, One NZ also intends to use Starlink’s planned satellite-to-phone tech to fill mobile black spots.
A third Musk product has seen action over the past few days, albeit unrelated to the solar storm. With Transpower warning of possible blackouts from 7am to 9am on Friday morning as a cold snap hit, many Tesla Powerwall battery owners woke to discover their product’s Storm Watch feature had been remotely triggered during the night, setting their batteries to fully charge from the grid (they usually collect power from solar panels).
NZ @Starlink users - how are you faring through the flares?
Many were hitherto unaware the feature even existed. Some were miffed they had involuntarily stockpiled power during the night at between 26-36c/KWh, only for their surplus power to be sold back to the grid at 7c/kWh.
With most only about $3 out of pocket, it was more a point of principle about not getting any heads-up from Tesla than a financial hit. Beyond that, many said they were impressed by the tech and happy to help out the grid in a small way.
Transpower, which has switched off several circuits to protect the power network, has extended its grid emergency until at least 8pm tonight.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
