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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

#51

Post by [deleted] »

schneems wrote: post #9
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re right about Elon but I’ve thought about it and it’s flawed reasoning. Humans don’t do it “with vision” we do it with five senses and the human brain. The computer is severely limited compared to the human brain, so in the context of things like LiDAR, the computer needs all the help it can get. And for rain sensing, the camera doesn’t see the windshield like a person does!

Alternatively: it’s a cost cutting measure and the “humans can do it with vision” is essentially a marketing spin.

[deleted]

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

#52

Post by why_at »

tempestn wrote: post #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 t…

FYI I have owned a model 3 for about a year now and I have always been able to manually set the speed by pushing the button and then using the horizontal part of the scroll wheel to cycle through the settings.

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

#53

Post by ra7 »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #2

> 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…

Combination of cost savings and “first principles” thinking.

They tried to save $5 per car by not including a rain sensor. It’s a few million dollars in savings at their scale. At the same time, they spend time and resources engineering a “smart” solution to auto wipers using cameras. And they continue to spend effort on that because it still doesn’t work.

Penny wise, pound foolish.

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

#54

Post by CGamesPlay »

tempestn wrote: post #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 t…

Completely ignoring the terrible UX of all of this, I can't imagine why someone would ever want to drive a car where path to access critical functionality changes so frequently.

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

#55

Post by ranger207 »

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…

Yeah I don't get the point of autowipers. My car is too old to have them, and whenvever I drive someone else's car I just have to pray that there's a way to bypass the automation because there's about a 50% chance whatever car I'm driving the wipers just won't work. It's an interesting case of UI/UX because adding the autowipers often makes things more complicated than not because instead of manipulating the wipers directly I instead have to manipulate the automation to manipulate the wipers

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

#56

Post by LeoPanthera »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #2

> 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…

> successfully

I don't know anyone who thinks the vision-based parking "radar" actually works well. Indeed, I've heard of several incidents of people bumping into things.

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

#58

Post by AnotherGoodName »

brysonreece wrote: post #34
photonbeam wrote: post #23

Is there an aftermarket addon from anyone to route around this problem?

Just manually enable the wipers instead of having it set to auto?

The newest teslas don’t have wiper or indicator stalks. They don’t have functioning auto wipers or auto indicators either. Manually enabling wipers is buried in the center mount touchscreen. The indicators are tiny crappy buttons on the wheel that turns when you turn making them a pain on roundabouts.

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

#59

Post by resolutebat »

brysonreece wrote: post #34
photonbeam wrote: post #23

Is there an aftermarket addon from anyone to route around this problem?

Just manually enable the wipers instead of having it set to auto?

Until recently this was a pain in the ass, because you could only adjust wiper speed via the touchscreen. This was literally my #1 problem with Tesla's UI.

However, they recently rolled out a software update that lets you adjust the wiper speed easily with the left scrollwheel.

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

#60

Post by creativeembassy »

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 go once. And then you have to push the left scrollwheel left or right (but not up or down!) to turn the setting up or down, while staring at the bottom left part of the screen to figure out what setting you're on. All of this takes your eyes much further away from the road, while driving in more dangerous conditions with reduced visibility.

If any hardware manufacturers are listening, I'd gladly pay $200 for an aftermarket part that lets me control my goddamn wipers.

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