Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

"Deep Rain" improvements [post about auto wipers]

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
I think the AI that controls the wipers is called Deep Rain. For me it works pretty well but my cavil is that if the rain is light it doesn't wipe fast enough. So before the next wipe the vision is obscured by, say, 20%. This is a bit annoying and my wife is always saying "wipers please", which rather defeats the purpose of the AI if you have to push the wiper button.

Is there any way of catching Elon's attention on this or is there a known solution (apart from switching to Manual mode)?

The other point about this which is intriguing is whether the software sends info to Tesla if you do push the wipe button. After all, the AI is supposed to adequately control the wipers and if you intervene then this would probably be an indication that it needed to up its game. If the software sent details of Deep Rain's assessment with the note that there was a driver override then that would appear to be the perfect learning moment - "DR thought that this situation did not warrant a wipe (herewith all of the internal variables and probability assessments) but the human didn't agree" A perfect edge case which could improve the AI.

Comments?
 
I think the AI that controls the wipers is called Deep Rain. For me it works pretty well but my cavil is that if the rain is light it doesn't wipe fast enough. So before the next wipe the vision is obscured by, say, 20%. This is a bit annoying and my wife is always saying "wipers please", which rather defeats the purpose of the AI if you have to push the wiper button.

Is there any way of catching Elon's attention on this or is there a known solution (apart from switching to Manual mode)?

The other point about this which is intriguing is whether the software sends info to Tesla if you do push the wipe button. After all, the AI is supposed to adequately control the wipers and if you intervene then this would probably be an indication that it needed to up its game. If the software sent details of Deep Rain's assessment with the note that there was a driver override then that would appear to be the perfect learning moment - "DR thought that this situation did not warrant a wipe (herewith all of the internal variables and probability assessments) but the human didn't agree" A perfect edge case which could improve the AI.

Comments?
I suggested to Tesla (emails to support) in 2013 that they could “learn” how often to wipe by monitoring the intervals between manual “wipe” button pushes while in “auto wiper” mode, and hence use the fleet for training. Never heard anything back and now 7 years later....its only slightly less sucky. I still have to push the wipe button frequently.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KeithT
Beautiful use of the word 'cavil'. :)

That said, I don't really think Elon (or anyone at Tesla in a position to do anything) gives a flying crap what people are dissatisfied with about the software, except in cases that will be crowd pleasers. Witness the 1990's era USB music player that gets a little worse with each successive release. I lambaste Elon repeatedly on Twitter and send bug reports until I know them by heart, but there are only crickets in reply.

FWIW, I usually have to initiate the wipers manually too, which means I then need to manually display the economy card again afterwards too. But that's just the way it goes when things don't get tested properly, or dealt with on a timely basis because the next 'big feature' is coming along...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Billee and KeithT
The wiping rate seems pretty good to me now, but initially, it seemed slow. Back then, I put RainX on the windshield, but not on the sensor. That way, the sensor would see the normal amount of rain, while the windshield would see a little less, so that I wouldn't feel the urge to hit the "wipe" button. Now, it's fairly accurate to my liking. ymmv.
 
I think the AI that controls the wipers is called Deep Rain. For me it works pretty well but my cavil is that if the rain is light it doesn't wipe fast enough. So before the next wipe the vision is obscured by, say, 20%. This is a bit annoying and my wife is always saying "wipers please", which rather defeats the purpose of the AI if you have to push the wiper button.

Is there any way of catching Elon's attention on this or is there a known solution (apart from switching to Manual mode)?

The other point about this which is intriguing is whether the software sends info to Tesla if you do push the wipe button. After all, the AI is supposed to adequately control the wipers and if you intervene then this would probably be an indication that it needed to up its game. If the software sent details of Deep Rain's assessment with the note that there was a driver override then that would appear to be the perfect learning moment - "DR thought that this situation did not warrant a wipe (herewith all of the internal variables and probability assessments) but the human didn't agree" A perfect edge case which could improve the AI.

Comments?

Are you driving or is she driving? I don’t think I’ve ever had a passenger request I use the wipers more/less.

Regardless, my solution is to use Rain-X, which means when I’m going 40+ mph, I don’t need wipers at all!
 
I occasionally have moments when I hit the manual wiper button because rain is adding up and auto wipers don’t turn on. What gets me is the wipers going top speed in a light rain or not turning off when it stops raining (not intermittent but regular continuous) and I need to manually turn off the wipers. I hope AI is learning from the fleet. Auto wipers are pretty amazing but lately the top speed wipers are giving me anxiety attacks. Ha!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Stanwood Steve
I think the AI that controls the wipers is called Deep Rain. For me it works pretty well but my cavil is that if the rain is light it doesn't wipe fast enough. So before the next wipe the vision is obscured by, say, 20%. This is a bit annoying and my wife is always saying "wipers please", which rather defeats the purpose of the AI if you have to push the wiper button.

Is there any way of catching Elon's attention on this or is there a known solution (apart from switching to Manual mode)?

The other point about this which is intriguing is whether the software sends info to Tesla if you do push the wipe button. After all, the AI is supposed to adequately control the wipers and if you intervene then this would probably be an indication that it needed to up its game. If the software sent details of Deep Rain's assessment with the note that there was a driver override then that would appear to be the perfect learning moment - "DR thought that this situation did not warrant a wipe (herewith all of the internal variables and probability assessments) but the human didn't agree" A perfect edge case which could improve the AI.

Comments?
 
When I first got the car a bit over a year ago, the auto wipers were absolutely awful. They worked maybe 5% of the time, suddenly went full blast in perfect weather, wouldn’t work at night, when the glass was wet when entering, or in light rain. Now they’re OK most of the time, but my biggest complaint is they frequently run flat out in light drizzles which I find annoying. It would be nice if you could input a preference for less or more than normal wiping. It’s pretty good for auto, but pretty mediocre since there’s no wiper stalk.
 
Wish Tesla used a rain sensor. They took a simple and "fixed" problem and made it complex and "broken" by adding AI and using the cameras. Funny that in just a few weeks FSD Beta has improved substantially but a year later and Deep Rain is still Deep Sh$$.
Before auto wipers came along, we humans used our eyes to decide if the wipers needed to be turned on. If our eyes can detect rain, eventually Elon's team will get the cameras to work.
 
  • Like
Reactions: puckpurnell
Before auto wipers came along, we humans used our eyes to decide if the wipers needed to be turned on. If our eyes can detect rain, eventually Elon's team will get the cameras to work.
...but rain sensors have been doing a VERY good job far a couple of decades. Deep Rain fails mostly in intermittent rain especially in a varying fine mist. It almost always sets the wipers WAY too high. Oddly large drops tend to cause it to not wipe or wipe too slow.

My last 3 cars had auto wipes and I seldom had to adjust or cut off/on. I keep my 3 set to off and just do a manual wipe for intermittent mode.
 
...but rain sensors have been doing a VERY good job far a couple of decades.


They have. My previous Lexus I turned it on auto the day I bought it, and never touched the wiper controls in any way for 11 years. It was fantastic.

But- the sensor does cost something.

Multiply by the tens of millions of cars a year Tesla eventually plans to sell- it's a lot cheaper to use HW the car will already have to have anyway (the cameras) than a dedicated sensor that does nothing else.

It's improved quite a bit from when I got my Tesla in 2018.... it's still inferior to a rain sensor, but much closer. It'll get there eventually.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: puckpurnell
They have. My previous Lexus I turned it on auto the day I bought it, and never touched the wiper controls in any way for 11 years. It was fantastic.

But- the sensor does cost something.

Multiply by the tens of millions of cars a year Tesla eventually plans to sell- it's a lot cheaper to use HW the car will already have to have anyway (the cameras) than a dedicated sensor that does nothing else.

It's improved quite a bit from when I got my Tesla in 2018.... it's still inferior to a rain sensor, but much closer. It'll get there eventually.
Its also a lot cheaper and easier to replace a cracked windshield with Tesla approach
 
The auto wiper was pretty dodgy when I first got my M3 a year ago - we often get this relentless sort of “greasy” drizzle here, and the auto wiper wouldn’t reliably detect it. At some point a few months later it got much better after an update, and now it’s been working pretty reliably for me. I occasionally hit the wiper button, but for the most part I just leave it alone.

That said, I would love it if there was some sort of sensitivity or scaling adjustment you could make so that it wiper faster or slower.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KeithT
Beautiful use of the word 'cavil'. :)

That said, I don't really think Elon (or anyone at Tesla in a position to do anything) gives a flying crap what people are dissatisfied with about the software, except in cases that will be crowd pleasers. Witness the 1990's era USB music player that gets a little worse with each successive release. I lambaste Elon repeatedly on Twitter and send bug reports until I know them by heart, but there are only crickets in reply.

FWIW, I usually have to initiate the wipers manually too, which means I then need to manually display the economy card again afterwards too. But that's just the way it goes when things don't get tested properly, or dealt with on a timely basis because the next 'big feature' is coming along...

Yeah, Elon would have to take 20-30 progammers off the Fart Mode team in order to fix wiper mode. That would be unthinkable.