Tesla patents laser-based windshield wipers for its electric vehicles
'Laser windshield wipers' is one of those things you expect to see in the script of a James Bond film (or at least an Austin Powers one), not in a real-world patent application.
But the concept is, indeed, a real one, and workable or not, electric vehicle magnate Elon Musk now holds the copyright to it.
Musk's EV company, Tesla, applied for a patent to the idea in 2019, and was apparently issued one by the United States Patent and Trademark Office earlier in September of this year (as first reported by Electrek)
Tesla Model 3 (Tesla)
The concept seems to be more or less what it sounds like. The patent application describes it as "A cleaning system for a vehicle [that] includes a beam optics assembly that emits a laser beam that irradiates a region on a glass article of the vehicle, debris detection circuitry that detects debris accumulated over a region, and control circuitry."
Its stated intent is to clear any debris that falls onto a given windshield, and it's not clear whether it's intended to sweep raindrops off as well.
Tesla apparently also has plans for windshield wipers that operate using electromagnetism, though the patent approval status of that scheme isn't clear.
It's definitely worth noting that not every patent that is filed leads to the real-world development of the technology in question, so it's likely Musk and Tesla are simply covering their bases. It's yet to be seen, therefore, that future Tesla Model 3s end up with laser windshield wipers in reality.
