Researchers report on a solar storm that caused a GPS glitch serious enough
to crash self-driving cars
Date:
Sat, 05 Sep 2026 13:30:00 +0000
Description:
The solar storm that hit Earth last November was more severe than most, and
we need to be prepared for the next one.
FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter You may not think about it, but Earth is under a constant bombardment of solar radiation shooting through space. While our planet's magnetic field does an excellent job of blocking
it, sometimes concentrated bursts of radiation known as solar flares are strong enough to interfere with our ground infrastructure via secondary magnetic field ripples.
Writing in Geophysical Research Letters, researchers from the US have documented the damage done by a solar 'superstorm' that erupted from the Sun on November 11, 2025. It hit the maximum level on the scale used to measure these storms, causing an unprecedented level of disruption in Earth's upper atmosphere (the ionosphere). The storm's effects were also unusually widespread, the researchers report, stretching coast to coast across the US for hours. It threw GPS positioning systems off by as much as 10 meters (33 feet) in some areas, and interrupted satellite communications. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:
Given that GPS errors of just 1-2 meters (3.3-6.6 feet) can cause "catastrophic issues for precision agriculture and autonomous vehicles", the researchers state, this is serious interference. However, the study doesn't
go into any specific detail of incidents with self-driving cars or farming machinery. Potential damage and harms Disruption stretched across the whole
of the US (Image credit: (Yizengaw et al., Geophysical Research Letters, 2026)) The researchers are mainly concerned with the scientific aspects of
the storm, but do point out that if the event had happened during the main farming season months, the damage could have been much worse. A May 2024
solar storm was estimated to have cost the US agriculture industry around
$500 million (386 million / AU$695 million). You may like Researchers show
how Russian satellites can jam GPS across Europe Don't worry, gravity won't disappear with the solar eclipse, but people have studied its effects Why is Octopus Energy paying you to switch off during the solar eclipse?
For people, the risk of direct health harms is minimal though if you're in
an airplane and up close to the ionosphere, you might expect to experience bursts of radiation that are equivalent to several X-ray scans. On the plus side, these incidents come with vibrant auroras across the northern and southern poles.
As we can't shut down the Sun, the best way to protect our infrastructure and tech systems from these storms is to improve scientific prediction models,
and upgrade hardware protections, which is what the study team emphasizes.
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"The results underscore the importance of accurate understanding of various space weather phenomena to enhance our predictive capabilities through coordinated observations and physics-based modeling and ultimately reducing disruptions to RF applications during space weather events," write the researchers.
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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/tech/researchers-report-on-a-solar-storm-that-caused -a-gps-glitch-serious-enough-to-crash-self-driving-cars
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