Lamps were "total disasters" until they weren't. Crosswalks even. Toilets in Seattle.
There are lots of things that were "total disasters" at one point but were developed into safe reliable things. That's not a reason to abandon an endeavor entirely, but a great reason to redirect or refine it.
Also, headlines are not news, and most non-electrical engineers, let alone journalists, know jack fucking shit about electrical engineering. EEVBlog did a great few videos about solar roadways and their flaws.
So is revanced. I haven't been able to skip an ad in years... 🤭