Roadster - Single Windshield Wiper

[Curt Renz]

Benzinga - this morning: New Tesla Roadster Patent Shows Wild Windshield Wiper Design

Excerpt:

Now a new patent shared by Teslarati shows even the windshield wipers will have a design never before seen. The wiper will be electromagnetic and have one giant blade on a rail. This would allow one giant wiper blade to move from one side of the windshield to the other, clearing the entire windshield of rain.

 

[Ostrichsak]

That sounds incredibly slow, needlessly complex and ultimately the owner will likely cuss it's very existence and wish he had some regular wipers that do the job fine and had been "perfected" decades earlier.

So... just like Tesla's current rain "sensing" solution!

 

[robocar]

That sounds incredibly slow, needlessly complex and ultimately the owner will likely cuss it's very existence and wish he had some regular wipers that do the job fine and had been "perfected" decades earlier.

So... just like Tesla's current rain "sensing" solution!

From what you say it's fairly pointless to improve things, you also say it 'sounds incredibly slow' but know very little about it and nothing about the speed of it, sorry but this statement makes very little sense, if you saw it working not a prototype but the version they install on cars and saw it was slow I would agree with you. The best tech is complex, computing power is designed for this, it can do far more much quicker than any of us. If you don't have a roadster on order then it really doesn't matter that you think 'the owner will likely cuss it's very existence' which again is speculation, as you wont have it on your car. If it really is a problem, owners will complain and explain why and it will be changed, simple. If you have ordered a roadster then wait to see it instead of 2nd guessing problems. If you think wipers are a 'perfected' solution you are clearly wrong, they are ugly, leave silly arcs where they don't wipe and would be better if hidden away, they are just the current solution. What is more likely that this will be improved and in 10 - 20 years will be made standard all cars. Really not sure how you don't see this foresight for what it could be, at this stage without seeing a working model. If the job is perfected then cars were perfected decades ago also so why even buy a tesla or any new car? The same could be said about products in general, most products are improved eventually. If this wasn't for the better it wouldn't happen so much. We would all be using old stuff and wouldn't need tech to improve stuff. I have a feeling the rain sensing issue will be resolved. Auto rain sensing wipers are not perfect.

Sounds brilliant to me. Wipers are far from a 'perfect' solution, i've always thought it could be improved but would take time and tech to do it. This electromagnetic solution even if not perfect could lead to a perfect solution. This solution would likely lead to being installed on every car as the tech improves. One wiper instead of 2 is great. It will also wipe more of the windscreen and could be designed to wipe the entire windscreen getting rid of those silly arcs the wipers miss. In any case not worth too much thought without seeing it. As you have commented negatively about this happens so much with new tech but then becomes a thing of the past as improvements make it better and such tech is implemented in everyday life. All car manufacturers make mistakes, not one doesn't. The first 2 MY's of a car usually has problems which are then improved, I usually avoid these. In Tesla's case as it's new tech they will have more problems lasting longer which is why I never bought a Tesla or was never interested. Now with the improved range and proven record that they work and are fast I would happily buy one now.