It would mean that at Tesla they would be all hands on deck with researchers, engineers and software developers working together to rectify the vehicle manufacturer. problematic autopilot feature, in contrast, the company devotes resources to other futuristic functions: com laser wipers.
We will be the first to admit that the current method of cleaning a vehicle’s windshield while driving is far from perfect. Assuming the windshield wiper blades aren’t covered in dirt and you don’t forget to refill the cleaner fluid, they usually soil dirt and other remnants of the windshield instead of effectively wiping them off. Windshield wipers could do an acceptable job of preventing raindrops from obscuring the driver’s view of the road ahead, but they are a technology that definitely needs to be upgraded and if Tesla has something to say, one day they could be replaced by lasers.
As vehicles become smarter and depend on technologies such as cameras, sensors and even photovoltaic power generation panels whose performance is hampered by the accumulation of dirt, there is even more demand for a way to keep the various surfaces of a vehicle clean. It does not involve a daily trip for a car wash.
Originally filed on United States Patent and Trademark Office on May 10, 2019, but finally approved earlier this week, Tesla’s patent for a “pulsed laser cleaning of accumulated debris in glassware in vehicles and photovoltaic assemblies” sounds as foreboding as it is innovative. The patent describes a system where “waste detection circuits” can determine whether dirt has accumulated on glass surfaces that needs to be kept as clean as possible for optimal functionality, such as cameras that control the road or even and all the windshield a driver looks at. . Based on the amount of dirt detected and where it is located, the intensity and focus of the laser are calibrated to target the beam specifically to the problem area (imagine a piece of bird poop on the windshield), so that, as it is propelled quickly, it has enough intensity to burn the dirt without actually penetrating the surface of the glass and causing damage to the occupants of the interior or sensitive electronic components.
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On the one hand, the approach eliminates the complicated mechanical machinery prone to failure, as well as an additional electric motor that causes a strong pressure on the battery of an EV. It also removes windshield wipers that move back and forth through the windshield, which can often be a distraction for the driver. On the other hand, a laser powerful enough to burn dirt in a window is certainly something to worry about. You’re not even supposed to look directly at the low-power laser diodes used in laser indicators, but the beam intensity should be drastically increased for this application.
The patent describes an approach in which the laser beam is rapidly pulsed so as to “limit the penetration of the laser beam to a depth less than the thickness of the glass article” and, although this may provide some reassurance. to vehicle occupants, What about other people around the vehicle, including other drivers on the road, who may be exposed to unwanted reflections from the beam? In an ideal world that would never happen, but in an ideal self-guided world Teslas would not collide with police cruisers either. The self-cleaning laser system can be limited to use only when the vehicle is parked safely or even inside a garage, but it would be useless for random moments when something splashes on the windshield while you are in the car. road. As futuristic as the idea may seem, we are happy to continue with our old school solution for now.