At this point, Elon Musk could talk about inventing the time machine and it wouldn’t be surprising…
It seems like Tesla recently registered a patent for laser beam windshield wipers and we’re not even sure how that works. According to the patent details, it’s a “cleaning system” that makes use of beam optics assembly that detects debris and emits a laser beam at the targeted region on the glass. And by debris, they probably mean water since that’s what windshields are primarily used for?
If you’re a Star Wars fan, then having laser beams as your car’s windshields would be like a dream come true for you but don’t get too excited just yet. To avoid blinding the driver and penetrating through the glass, the intensity of the laser beam would not be too powerful. Oh thank God, or else they would have to invent laser repellant glasses too to go with them…
The application for the laser beam wipers was filed back in May 2019 but was published later that year. Meanwhile, the US Patent and Trademark Office just granted the patent to the car company earlier this week, after two years. This unusual patent is one of many, so there’s a very slim chance Tesla would actually introduce laser windshield wipers anytime soon. Think of it like Tesla’s Cybertruck, it was introduced a few years back and there’s still no news of it launching anytime soon. And by now, people should be used to Tesla introducing weird new ideas and then completely ghosting the project in the future.
While there’s no news of the laser beam wipers, there has been some speculation around windshield wipers based on electromagnetic technology that might actually see the day of light.