Tesla Auto Wipers: Why They Don't Work and Why There Isn't an Easy Fix • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla Auto Wipers: Why They Don't Work and Why There Isn't an Easy Fix

#101

Post by fastball » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:36 AM UTC

yreg wrote: post #20

sho_hn wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding the gigacasting: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-...

That article states that they are retracting to their previous method of gigacasting. The one that other carmakers are starting to use too, inspired by Tesla.

It actually says that they were attempting to gigacast their new vehicle as a single piece rather than three pieces, but that proved difficult so they are going back to gigacasting three separate pieces.

But your point stands: they are still gigacasting, just for now they are not doing the very ambitious "gigacast in a single bound" plan.

Re: Tesla Auto Wipers: Why They Don't Work and Why There Isn't an Easy Fix

#102

Post by ojbyrne » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:38 AM UTC

dmitrygr wrote: post #98

creativeembassy wrote: post #60

This is my #1 complaint with our new Model Y. The "Auto" setting is completely worthless. It almost never turns on when it's raining. When it does turn on, it's either too fast or too slow. It'll turn on randomly when there's no rain. But it's not just the sensor, which would be inconvenient. The lack of control makes it *dangerous*. You have to push the button in _slightly_ on the left stalk, which makes the wipers…

> I'd gladly pay $200 for an aftermarket part that lets me control my goddamn wipers. A surprisingly low price for what will eventually cause your fatal accident due to inattention.

“eventually” seems to be doing a lot of work here.

Re: Tesla Auto Wipers: Why They Don't Work and Why There Isn't an Easy Fix

#103

Post by fastball » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:39 AM UTC

dmbche wrote: post #18

ghostcluster wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It feels to me like another one of Elon's stubborn whims. Sometimes these result in great innovations, like Tesla's giant car part 'gigacasting'. Other times, they result in deciding to rename Twitter "X" and forcing a team of engineers to spend over a year combing meticulously through the codebase to remove all references to "twitter.com"

Isn't gigacasting awful for the consumer? Can't replace most parts, have to replace the expensive gigacast?

I think most of the time if you are in a serious enough accident to damage the gigacast in a way that it needs replacing, that would've totalled most other cars as well.

Re: Tesla Auto Wipers: Why They Don't Work and Why There Isn't an Easy Fix

#104

Post by fastball » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:44 AM UTC

_yb2s wrote: post #22

dontreact wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon’s belief that humans doing it with vision is proof it can be done with video

That is a reasonable argument that it is likely to be theoretically possible. It’s absolute madness to jump from “theoretically possible” to production without actually inventing and testing the technology. What is going on over there at Tesla? I suspect an emperors new clothes type of situation where employees are too terrified to state basic facts, like “we tested 20 ideas out but none worked, we haven’t figured ou…

Giving Musk the benefit of the doubt, probably his thinking is more along the lines of:

"I'd like to solve this with vision. Sure, we can ship a $5 part to do it the tried-and-true way, but if we do that then we're probably never gonna solve it with vision, because there will no longer be a pressing need to do so. So I'm gonna force us to not ship our cars with a proper rain sensor in the hope that it will continually push my teams to get this shit done and do the improbable".

Re: Tesla Auto Wipers: Why They Don't Work and Why There Isn't an Easy Fix

#105

Post by vel0city » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:45 AM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #78

vel0city wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So with auto wipers, sometimes you need to manually turn on the wipers. With manual wipers, you always need to manually turn on the wipers. I don't get how the auto wipers are worse. It's not like having auto wipers means you no longer have manual wipers. Other than maybe a Tesla where they took away the stalks, but just about every car I've had with auto wipers still had regular stalks with pretty regular wiper cont…

Good point, I think the issue for me is probably more of a lack of the ability to set manual wipers on a continuously variable schedule than just with autowipers specifically. I have no option that's good for the "misty" rain I described beyond hitting the "wipe once" button on the stalk every ten seconds.

Yeah, it would be good if all the wipers on auto would repurpose the interval time adjustment as a sensitivity adjustment for the auto wipers when in auto mode. Some cars seem to be able to have adjustable sensitivity in this way, some can only change it deep in settings (not good on the fly), and most seem to be fixed sensitivity.

Re: Tesla Auto Wipers: Why They Don't Work and Why There Isn't an Easy Fix

#106

Post by cco » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:51 AM UTC

creativeembassy wrote: post #60

This is my #1 complaint with our new Model Y. The "Auto" setting is completely worthless. It almost never turns on when it's raining. When it does turn on, it's either too fast or too slow. It'll turn on randomly when there's no rain. But it's not just the sensor, which would be inconvenient. The lack of control makes it *dangerous*. You have to push the button in _slightly_ on the left stalk, which makes the wipers…

There are aftermarket Tesla buttons that you can buy and program to change things like wipers. Maybe look into those.

Re: Tesla Auto Wipers: Why They Don't Work and Why There Isn't an Easy Fix

#107

Post by mkl » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:52 AM UTC

ASalazarMX wrote: post #63

yareal wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considerably more than five senses, actually. We rely on a huge variety of inputs beyond the basic ones when we drive.

Vision and hearing are the main senses we use to driving, and touch a distant third. Using taste, smell or proprioception means something is probably wrong with your vehicle.

Driving without proprioception is probably almost impossible. That's how you know where your hands are, how the steering wheel is turned, where your feet are, how to move your hand to the indicator lever, etc.

Re: Tesla Auto Wipers: Why They Don't Work and Why There Isn't an Easy Fix

#108

Post by jerlam » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:52 AM UTC

creativeembassy wrote: post #60

This is my #1 complaint with our new Model Y. The "Auto" setting is completely worthless. It almost never turns on when it's raining. When it does turn on, it's either too fast or too slow. It'll turn on randomly when there's no rain. But it's not just the sensor, which would be inconvenient. The lack of control makes it *dangerous*. You have to push the button in _slightly_ on the left stalk, which makes the wipers…

These are over $300 but these are aftermarket Tesla buttons that can control the wipers and other functions:

https://enhauto.com/product/four-s3xy-buttons-gen2

(not an owner, just have a good memory)

Re: Tesla Auto Wipers: Why They Don't Work and Why There Isn't an Easy Fix

#109

Post by kranner » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:56 AM UTC

SequoiaHope wrote: post #88

ASalazarMX wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vision and hearing are the main senses we use to driving, and touch a distant third. Using taste, smell or proprioception means something is probably wrong with your vehicle.

I thought about smell but actually vehicles do malfunction, and smell can be an important indicator. “Something is wrong with your vehicle” is a real scenario that actually happens pretty often.

I feel we must be using smell all the time to be able to detect when a burning odour begins to arise. It’s just that we’re not aware of it when nothing unusual happens.

Re: Tesla Auto Wipers: Why They Don't Work and Why There Isn't an Easy Fix

#110

Post by SoftTalker » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:58 AM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #21

TBH, I hate auto wipers and have always believed them to be a tech solution looking for a problem. Never once have I been in rainy weather and thought "gee, what should I do?". I currently have a car with auto wipers (I'm not sure but I think they use the "standard" infrared sensor to detect rain) and I find them worse than manual, intermittent wipers in every way. I think the biggest problem is that the wipers tend…

I hate everything automatic on my car. Rain sensing wipers activate in dry weather, and then not when it's raining. Climate control does what it wants, I freeze or sweat or have fog on the windshield because it's not directing any air there. Automatic transmission hunts up and down on a hilly road.

I want a car with manual transmission, manual wipers, manual climate control settings, and manual radio. Unfortunately they are not sold unless you buy one that's 30 years old.