[RahulNagaraj]

Tesla has managed to obtain a patent on a technology that uses laser beams as windshield wipers.

According to media reports, the American car brand has been working on a technology which 'cleans debris off a car using laser beams' for over two years now. The patent application for the same was filed a while back, which was approved by the United States Patent & Trademark Office, sometime last week.



The patent is titled, 'Pulsed laser cleaning of debris accumulated on glass articles in vehicles and photovoltaic assemblies'. Further, the images from the patent application clearly illustrate laser beams coming from the two rear-facing points on the bonnet, usually reserved for the wiper fluid nozzles.

As per reports, the technology also features multiple sensors and circuitry, which not only detects debris on the glass but also the amount of debris accumulated over a certain area. Then, based on various parameters the exposure level of the laser beam is determined, which is enough to remove the debris from the surface, but not high enough to penetrate the thickness of the glass and cause damage to any in-vehicle components.



Apart from cleaning debris from the windshield, the technology also allows the use of pulsed laser beams to clean solar panels as well.

While the patent has been filed and approved, it doesn't actually guarantee or confirm that the technology will actually make its way to production vehicles.

Source: Electrek

Link to Team-BHP news

[SideView]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

Tesla has managed to obtain a patent on a technology that uses laser beams as windshield wipers.
[/b]

Interesting indeed, but would it really work in heavy rain scenarios? Or would it supplement existing wipers.

If this could be scaled up. True Waterless lazer car wash here I come.

[prajwalmr62]

What will happen to driver's (or passenger's) eyes? AFAIK windshield is transparent. Will it be operated only when there's nobody in the car?

edit :

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

which is enough to remove the debris from the surface, but not high enough to penetrate the thickness of the glass and cause damage to any in-vehicle components.

never mind, it is mentioned here in quoted text.

But I'd be very skeptical of this being in production. Because, 1) Super small laser modules are going to be expensive 2) I'm not sure if it gets approved considering safety aspects.

[srini1785]

Lasers come in all sizes, Starting from the ubiquitous keychain type, to the ones used in the military to blast off a Missile. Lasers are precise to a nano meter and hence can very accurately be used as in case of eye surgery.

My guess is that its a kind of camera based dirt detection and firing using a laser. Man what a complicated way of doing a simple chore.

[HEMIOrange]

In a top gear episode where Jeremy drives an Aventador with the James and Richard in a McLaren MP4-12C and Noble M600 respectively, Jeremy, while wittingly describing how a Lamborghini is designed said that while other cars use windscreen wipers, Lamborghini would use lasers to do the same. I guess Elon Musk took that a bit too seriously, like "Let's try that" and voila! laser windscreen wipers.

[rajivr1612]

Long back on Discovery channel there was a show called Beyond 2000. I still remember one show where they showed an ultrasonic device at the edges of the windshield which literally bounces / beads off rain water. But they didn't show how it could clean off other sticky stuff.

[TheGearBox]

Ooh, those poor bugs that land on Tesla windshields! This is some serious Sci-Fi $H!t right here!
We should expect Tesla to launch Lightsabers soon (Teslasabers?). The American gun lobby will go berserk.

[lordrayden]

This immediately reminded me of a story I heard a while ago illustrating how a simple solution is sometimes better than a complex one. Not sure if it’s true or not though.

"A Japanese cosmetics company received a complaint that one of its customers had bought a box of soap that was empty. They found that in their factory’s assembly line, one of the soap boxes happened to go through empty.

So, the engineers devised an X-ray machine to be placed next to the assembly line, monitored by 2 engineers to find out if any soap boxes were empty and remove them. But when a low-level employee was posed the same problem, he said he’d buy a powerful fan and keep it next to the assembly line so that the empty box flies away!"

[gkveda]

What would happen to the eyes of driver and front passenger who will be observing the laser beams passing on the windshield? Will it not affect the eyes? Since high intensity laser light will be directly entering the eyes it is definitely dangerous to human eyes.

During eyes cataract surgery and laser treatment, under very high controlled environment, laser light passing into the eyes for a fraction of milliseconds will rectify the issues related to eyes. And there are cases which have failed and blinded eyes of the patients due to incorrect laser intensity. But this laser light enters eyes continuously for minutes or few hours continuously depending on the raining duration.

Hence, I think personally, this needs more research insight and debates before approvals by the authorities.

[nightraven]

This looks like a solution looking for a problem. Skeptical about practicality, performance, reliability, complexity to repair/replace, power consumption and any harmful health effects to passengers. All of this would likely jack up the cost. I applaud Elon Musk for his vision in pushing certain limits but few things look jarring like his hatred for LIDAR. I understand that Tesla's vision based AI neural systems are trained for detecting movements but in my limited experience a 3D map generated from a vision camera would never have the fidelity and accuracy of a LIDAR map in all conditions. LIDAR is the safest choice and would likely avoid Tesla autopilot mishaps like running into parked firetrucks.

[Dr.AD]

Wow! This is an amazing technology, and certainly revolutionary enough just like a lot of other stuff Tesla does.

I think this is many years away from being used in practice (at least in non-exotic cars), but I always like it when someone pushes the boundaries and develops new technologies. This is how technology and engineering development happens. This is how we make progress. I salute to anyone who invents something new.

To all those worried about safety, dangers to the eyes of the driver, and other complex issues, remember that if we could think of this, I am sure Tesla could too. They will figure this out. For example, the article already says that the power of lesser is just enough to clean the debris on the windshield but not enough to penetrate through the windshield glass. It is possible to optimally design the windshield (thickness, glass properties etc) and this laser system to work together in a safe way.

This is still way far away in future, and there is time to solve all these issues. But then, this is just a patent. It is by no means a working system ready to be deployed. But this is how most new technologies get developed. Someone invents an idea, gets a patent approved on the base technology, and then keeps designing and iterating over till they arrive at a practical useful system years later! This process is the fundamental process behind all innovations we have seen in cars which today we take for granted. Thus, there is no reason to be skeptical about this at this stage.

At the same time, there is also a good chance this will never (or not anytime soon for us to see this) come to production level. There are more patents which eventually never get used than the ones which get used. So we will wait and see.

Now coming to why this is cool (if it ever works), the point is that the laser will not only clean the windshield of superficial debris and muck (like our simple wipers do), but it will actually clean all the deep stuck debris and muck which is so hard to clean by wipers. This laser will essentially burn off anything on the windshield and make the glass absolutely spotless. The net result will be amazing visibility and clean windshield - much more than what can be achieved with wipers. Notice that the other application is cleaning the solar panels. Those require to be cleaned to get maximum efficiency, and that is a scientific grade cleaning process. If these laser beams can do that, they can do wonders on the windshield too!

[Kumaran93R]

I agree that Tesla is a decade ahead of other EV manufacturers. They don't have the legacy of ICE supply chains to tie them down. I love the way that Tesla has democratised access to great accelerating cars like the Model 3 Performance.

But, I have a problem with the tech billionaires solving mundane problems. Elon Musk is on top of that list. Most of them give cool looking solutions just for the sake of looking cool.

Best case in point is the Boring company and the Vegas loop. The loop is basically an underground tunnel that has teslas as taxis. A metro would carry much more people much more effectively and efficiently. But then, a metro is hardly groundbreaking. Musk has to sell more Teslas, right?

I am intrigued by this, but I still have a feeling that this is a solution that is in need of a problem.

[CarNerd]

Why not retractable wipers like the retractable door handles? It would be cost effective compared to Lasers and also improve the looks.

[Kochikaran]

Another useless technology. Why fix something that’s not broken? This is just another way to add the price and another device to fail in the long run. The humble wiper is easy to replace and cheap as well. Typical Tesla.

[funkykar]

IF this really is effective, shouldn't it be shared industry-wide for the benefit of all everyone? Makes it safer, saves water, saves lives.