The auto wipers are............working!

[WileyTheMan]

I noticed an improvement in the sensitivity from 8.5 to 12.1.2 in the recent rains here in the Bay Area. Not perfect, but I didn't have to push the button once on my way to work.

The blades still go full bore when I get in the car and eventually peter out. Don't know what that's all about.

 

[T-1000]

The other they just came on for no reason right when I got into my car. The wipers came on at full speed as if I was sitting in a heavy rainstorm. This has happened twice to me already. The sun was just starting to come down or low ambient light from outdoor lighting.

 

[milleron]

I've seen a dramatic improvement with 12.1.1, BUT it wasn't immediate. The first time it rained after this update, the movements were not only jerky but their speed was more inappropriate than I've seen it before. After parking the car for an hour, they functioned better than ever, flawlessly, in fact. It's almost as though they had to calibrate or something.

 

[Saghost]

Auto Wiper option will never work for everyone. Everyone has different desired wiping frequency, so there's that.

It has worked for me most of the time, but recently it has waited too long to activate wiper which at that point I could barely see through the windshield.

Not having a lever adjusting wiper is one thing I missed from ICE cars.

It's a very smart car. Now with more processing power added. The driver can manually activate the wipers at any time.

There's no reason the car can't learn when the driver likes to wipe, driver by driver, and start emulating them. It'd be just one more thing to keep in the driver profile.

(It'd be helpful for training if you could give it a "not yet" somehow for when it wipes and you didn't think it was needed in addition to it learning when you do trigger.)

 

[hcdavis3]

Auto wipers are now working great for me. Much better than before.

 

[galan]

i had it activate when cloudy and dark with no rain. or when parked in my garage. def need improvement. im on 2019.8.4. my bmw x5 2014 is better. tesla really need to get this better.

I had a 2006 BMW model 3 (which I recently sold to buy the Tesla) and in 13 years of use the BMW's automatic wipers worked flawlessly.

Four days ago I had my new Tesla Model 3, with 600 miles on it, in for service to look at an intermittent, random problem where the automatic wipers turn on when I put the car in reverse to exit my garage. When I got the car back from Tesla service, the technician's report/response was: "Technician verified auto wiper function is in Beta, please see manual for further info.
Operation is expected to improve over time vis firmware."

This response by Tesla service floored me! Cars have some basic systems that should just work: steering, brakes, forward and reverse, and wipers. How is it 13 years on from my BMW that Tesla (still) has its automatic wiper system in Beta in 2019? This is beyond comprehension and reasonableness in a luxury car. If the car needs a "proper" rain sensor to work reliably and therein ensure the safety of owners and their passengers, then why didn't Telsa put one in in the first place: they have been in business long enough to have detected this problem and to have found a solution that works?

This site has hundreds and hundreds of complaints about the automatic wipers not working in a variety of weather conditions and situations and also other wiper related problems (such as mine). It is time that Tesla got the basics working. And, as a former systems software developer, I am getting fed up hearing from Tesla staff about how the "next firmware update" will solve all my problems when I know they likely won't any time soon.

 

[kengchang]

This response by Tesla service floored me! Cars have some basic systems that should just work: steering, brakes, forward and reverse, and wipers. How is it 13 years on from my BMW that Tesla (still) has its automatic wiper system in Beta in 2019? This is beyond comprehension and reasonableness in a luxury car. If the car needs a "proper" rain sensor to work reliably and therein ensure the safety of owners and their passengers, then why didn't Telsa put one in in the first place: they have been in business long enough to have detected this problem and to have found a solution that works?

Rain sensor cost money, say $10 each * 200K = $2 million that's being saved by beta feature.

 

[Leafdriver333]

I use the button a lot.
And I often change the speed settings. I have to take my eyes off the road when I do that.
It sounds like I need software update.
I have not had an update since 8.6

 

[Wholmes]

So it's better but the system as set up currently is unsafe in my opinion.... been driving for 50 years and mostly in the mid west in a lot of crappy weather.... never, ever had to take my eyes off the road when splashed or too much rain to see though (impaired vision) to initiate a wiper setting.... not just pushing the stupid button which is hard to locate while steering but really turn them on full to clear the line of sight by slapping motion to a lever..... this is a big mistake and I believe it could lead to accidents..... and how stupid is this.... when you do push the stupid button or swipe the "card" to open the the wiper setting, or find and push the wiper button to get to the menu .... the damn thing disappears in mere seconds.... how dumb is that... at least leave the damn menu open to allow quick adjustment of the wiper speed WHILE USING THE DAMN WIPERS.... oh yea,,,, it's REALLY IMPORTANT TO GET BACK TON THE TIRE PRESSURE CARD IN THE RAIN !!!!

 

[galan]

Rain sensor cost money, say $10 each * 200K = $200 million that's being saved by beta feature.

Hi Kengchang,
Using your math at $10 per sensor and 200K Tesla’s, that comes to $2M, which is peanuts. Tesla is likely spending 10s of $M trying track the automatic wiper problems, let alone the software development costs associated with trying to find fixes and regression testing before firmware deployment.

 

[Knightshade]

I had a 2006 BMW model 3 (which I recently sold to buy the Tesla) and in 13 years of use the BMW's automatic wipers worked flawlessly.

Of course- your BMW (like my Lexus that also worked flawlessly for 11 years I owned it) had an actual rain sensor.

If the car needs a "proper" rain sensor to work reliably and therein ensure the safety of owners and their passengers, then why didn't Telsa put one in in the first place: they have been in business long enough to have detected this problem and to have found a solution that works?

They did use one for AP1 cars. When they switched to newer HW (and on all model 3s) they decided cameras could do the job- plus it saves them a few bucks on every car, times hundreds of thousands of cars every year.

Which, I mean, they do a ton better job than they did when they initially made this switch (which was- not at all for months, and then only really-terribly for many months after, now it's just "only fairly bad" which is a huge improvement!)


Tesla is a weird mix of WOW I AM LIVING IN THE FUTURE AS THE CAR IS PRACTICALLY DRIVING ITSELF.... and ARE YOU KIDDING? THE NAV DOES NOT DO WAYPOINTS? MY 2004 GARMIN DID WAYPOINTS!

 

[Leafdriver333]

All we need is the right scroll to be working as sensitivity adjustment when the wiper is active.

 

[kengchang]

Hi Kengchang,
Using your math at $10 per sensor and 200K Tesla’s, that comes to $2M, which is peanuts. Tesla is likely spending 10s of $M trying track the automatic wiper problems, let alone the software development costs associated with trying to find fixes and regression testing before firmware deployment.

Terrible math, but small things like this adds up. Just looks at Model 3, no instrument cluster, no buttons, no ac vent fins etc. It all adds up.

 

[hcdavis3]

All we need is the right scroll to be working as sensitivity adjustment when the wiper is active.

That’s a good idea Leaf. But where would the speed adjustment for cruise control which is currently on the right scroll wheel go? I use that wheel a lot when I’m on TACC.

 

[cwmagui]

Seems to me that every other car manufacturer on the planet has figured this out. Can it really be that hard?

 

[Knightshade]

Seems to me that every other car manufacturer on the planet has figured this out. Can it really be that hard?

Again- everyone else is using a rain sensor.

So was Tesla until the HW switch to use vision only.

Tesla remains convinced they can do everything with just vision (and radar)

 

[Leafdriver333]

That’s a good idea Leaf. But where would the speed adjustment for cruise control which is currently on the right scroll wheel go? I use that wheel a lot when I’m on TACC.

We would have to press the wiper button first to bring up the wiper menu up.

Scroll up and down would be Auto sensitivity.
Scroll click right and left would be fixed speed fast/slow.
Scroll press down function would turn wiper on/off

 

[Saghost]

Seems to me that every other car manufacturer on the planet has figured this out. Can it really be that hard?

I've had several cars with automatic wipers from dedicated rain sensors over the years, including my AP1 X.

None of them have ever gotten it right.

They do usually have adjustment options, a slower auto and a faster one at least - but the fast in some cars often wipes without rain and still waits too long in the rain, and the slow has the have the windshield soaked.

I don't have experience with AP2+ auto wipers yet, but every other manufacturer certainly doesn't have it figured out in my experience.

 

[mtndrew1]

I spent an hour driving in the rain today and they work! They really work!

There were a few times I would have chosen a different (slower) speed and I’d like a bit more hysteresis on a given speed selection (sometimes it would briefly do an intermittent wipe then return to speed 1) but I’m just really pleased with how they performed. The stuttering on intermittent is also gone.

In 14 months this is the first time I’ve done an entire drive without manually tinkering with the wipers out of frustration.

For those of you who recently bought the car you should have seen them last June!

 

[Big-T]

Well, as I've got the reported bug (on a few threads here) that looses all AP capabilities, it also looses auto wipers. The best I can do right now is set my wipers to the slowest level, which appears to be once every 5 seconds.

Here in Seattle we need the lowest setting to be once every 10-15 seconds....and frankly paired with a slider (or scroll wheel) where you could have many adjustments vs 3 fixed settings would really solve most of this.