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

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

#41
post #29
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> Tesla now focusing more on developing self-driving vehicles than on pushing for huge growth in EV sales volume, which many investors had been counting on. Yep, don't count on Tesla for replacing fossil fuel cars. They had a good headstart but hopefully other manufacturers will now take its place to fill growing demand

In all likelihood auto manufacturers won't really be responsible for replacing fossil fuel cars. Designing and building the cars is straightforward enough, they need continued leaps energy storage and infrastructure to make that change possible.

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

#42

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…

By contrast my 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X has automatic wipers that are just magic and other than making them slightly more or less sensitive once-off (which you can do using the dial on the wiper stalk) it responds perfectly, adjusting the speed up and down with changing rain intensity in perfect harmony with what I would do myself. I never find myself wanting. That's nearly 20 years old at this point.

2018 Subaru Outback, same thing.

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

#43

> This is a result of Tesla’s strategy to rely upon Tesla Vision to replace all sensors – which they’ve successfully used most recently to replace the ultrasonic parking sensors (USS) on their vehicles. Tesla believes that vision is the solution to achieving all self-driving capabilities, and this includes the elimination of extraneous sensors such as USS and radar. Why are they so hell-bent on using nothing but vide…

From the article:

> Tesla likes to avoid solutions that only solve a single problem – such as adding a rain sensor. It is an additional manufacturing complication, adds additional cost to vehicles, and segments Tesla’s vehicles between model years.

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

#45
post #24
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It's not like it's cheap to repair frame damage in any car.

Frame damage is actually pretty straightforward on cars that actually have a frame (i.e. aren't unibody).

The problem with repair costs in modern cars is all the sensors, cameras, complex paint jobs, airbags, etc. Those expenses add up quickly, combined with the added costs of body panels and trim for certain brands and costs really get insane - it shouldn't be a surprise that car insurance costs keep growing much faster than inflation.

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

#46

One thing that would improve them immensely is to make the algorithm much more aggressive if I manually hit the wiper button. When I hit that button it should be a strong hint that conditions are rainy.

I strongly suspect this is already the case, based on repeated experiences of pressing the wiper button and then having the auto wipers come on.

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

#48
There are other issues with Tesla's auto wipers.

The main one is that, in other cars, you can have the wipers on auto, while still manually increasing or decreasing their speed. So if the wipers aren't going fast enough for you, you can bias the speed upward while maintaining the auto function, and vice-versa. On Teslas you don't have that option; you need to choose between auto and a fixed speed. (My guess is that the ability to increase or decrease the speed of auto wipers is patented, and Tesla doesn't want to license that patent, but that's just a guess. Maybe it's just laziness.)

And that's bad enough, but it was made far worse by the fact that for most of Tesla's existence until just recently, the only way to change that fixed speed was via the touch screen. This was, thankfully, finally fixed just recently! (But only properly so for older vehicles.)

The turn signal stalk on Teslas that still had turn signal stalks has a button on the end that activates the windshield wipers. It will cause them to wipe once, and will bring up a control on the touchscreen to choose between speeds or turn the wipers off. Until a few months ago, that was your only option to change speed: use the touchscreen while driving. (As a result, Tesla drivers like myself would often just control the wipers manually, pushing the button for each wipe, as that was more convenient than fiddling with the screen!)

Then, they added the ability to long-press a steering wheel scroll wheel, and then turn it to control wiper speed (although backwards, with an up turn on the wheel making the wipers go slower). This was a hassle, but better than the screen. For several months that was the situation, until just finally a week or so ago the logical link was made so that pressing the dedicated wiper button on the stalk allowed speed to be adjusted using the wheel. Not as good as a proper, adjustable auto function, but at least usable - finally.

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

#49
post #11

> This is a result of Tesla’s strategy to rely upon Tesla Vision to replace all sensors – which they’ve successfully used most recently to replace the ultrasonic parking sensors (USS) on their vehicles. Tesla believes that vision is the solution to achieving all self-driving capabilities, and this includes the elimination of extraneous sensors such as USS and radar. Why are they so hell-bent on using nothing but vide…

I think they falsely believe human only needs one sense to navigate: sight. But we actually use our hearing, smell, and touch too. So, multiple type sensors is actually better than only one.

Our eyes are also attached to an unfathomably efficient supercomputer. The most advanced one in the universe, in fact, by a gigantic margin compared to anything humans have made.

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

#50
post #10

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"

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

Article really would have helped if I could have understood how much cheaper/faster it is to make one piece instead of three.
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