{"id":208794,"date":"2021-09-14T09:49:15","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T13:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=208794"},"modified":"2021-09-14T09:49:16","modified_gmt":"2021-09-14T13:49:16","slug":"tesla-gets-patent-for-mounting-lasers-on-its-hood-to-replace-windshield-wipers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2021\/09\/tesla-gets-patent-for-mounting-lasers-on-its-hood-to-replace-windshield-wipers\/","title":{"rendered":"Tesla Gets Patent for Mounting Lasers on its Hood \u2014 to Replace Windshield Wipers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anybody who has had to deal with crazy drivers in rush hour traffic has likely dreamed of mounting Star Wars-style laser cannons on the hood. So, it immediately caught our attention when we discovered that Tesla last week won a patent to do precisely that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The patent application claims the laser beams won’t penetrate a vehicle’s windshield.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But, as our friends at Electrek discovered<\/a><\/strong>, those lasers are actually aimed back towards the driver and, according to the Tesla patent, are meant to serve as a replacement for conventional windshield wipers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, getting rid of conventional wipers is another common wish. They\u2019re awkward, often noisy, and frequently don\u2019t work very well. But, let\u2019s see \u2026 replace wipers by aiming lasers back towards the driver? What could go wrong with that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Tesla it has developed a \u201ccleaning system for a vehicle (which) includes a beam optics assembly that emits a laser beam to irradiate a region on a glass article of the vehicle, debris detection circuitry that detects debris accumulated over the region, and control circuitry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking aim at debris<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When the system detects \u201cdebris\u201d it calculates how much to blast it with the laser. And, should you be worried about the beam continuing through the windshield and into the eyes of driver and passengers, Tesla\u2019s patent filing assures us that, \u201cthe exposure level is controlled based on pulsing the laser beam at a calibrated rate that limits penetration of the laser beam to a depth that is less than a thickness of the glass article, and removes the debris accumulated over the region on the glass article using the laser beam.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tesla
If you have lasers pointed at you, passengers may need some of this to calm their nerves before getting in.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This system actually is the second wiper alternative that Tesla has patented. It previously came up with a technology using magnets that could run a single, squeegee-like blade across a vehicle\u2019s windshield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, there is no indication that Tesla actually plans to put either of these technologies into production. But even if they don\u2019t prove useful on the road, they could also show up to clean the solar roof technology developed by Tesla\u2019s Solar City subsidiary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A critical safety device<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wipers were one of the world\u2019s first automotive options and remain one of the most critical among the safety gear on even the most modern automobiles.\u00a0But until recently, little had changed in more than a century for the humble devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, that\u2019s not entirely true.\u00a0Throughout the decades, wipers have gotten bigger. Manufacturers long ago migrated from mechanical, hand-operated wipers to electric drive, more recently making multi-speed and intermittent wipers all but ubiquitous. But several manufacturers are looking for truly high-tech alternatives that could make tomorrow\u2019s wipers some of the most sophisticated devices on your car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tesla
If you’re going to hit 60 mph in less than 2 seconds, conventional windshield wipers may be less than effective.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Mercedes-Benz took a small step forward when it introduced its new Magic Vision Control system, spraying washer fluid from the wipers directly onto the windshield. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But McLaren wants to take things significantly further, using what has been described as “an ultrasonic transducer in the corner of the windscreen\u201d that would essentially cause water or snow to just flow right off the windshield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The military gets there first<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Apparently, the Air Force has already come up with a similar concept, some of its fighters using high-frequency sound waves to create, in effect, a force field that doesn\u2019t let anything adhere to the glass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pininfarina has an alternate idea. It has toyed with using a wiper-less system, dubbed Hidra, that coats the outer glass with a chemical compound with hydrophobic properties that repel water.\u00a0A second, nano layer will \u201cpush\u201d dirt off to the sides, while a third layer essentially helps clean off grime. An additional, electrically conductive layer, provides the power needed to make it all work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All great ideas, but, with the exception of the Air Force system, none has yet proved practical. We\u2019ll have to see if Tesla\u2019s laser cannon approach proves more effective \u2014 and can avoid frying occupants\u2019 eyeballs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tesla may have some up with a very high-tech alternative to the windshield wiper \u2014 as long as you don’t mind a laser cannon blasting away at your windshield. TheDetroitBureau.com has more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,10,11,9],"tags":[2627,386,2629,2628,2630],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208794"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208794"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208807,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208794\/revisions\/208807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208794"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=208794"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=208794"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=208794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}