Tesla has managed to lock down a rather unusual patent: using laser beams as windshield wipers.
Tesla patent application details a “cleaning system” that “includes a beam optics assembly that emits a laser beam to irradiate a region on a glass article of the vehicle.” The system will automatically detect “debris,” read: water, on the glass and focus the laser beam where it is needed.
To eliminate the possibility of having beaming lasers into the eyes of the driver the laser beam will not be powerful enough to penetrate the thickness of the glass.
The patent application was filed in May 2019, but published later that year, around the time the company unveiled its equally futuristic Cybertruck.
But the US Patent and Trademark Office only granted the car company the patent earlier this week. Since it’s just a patent, there’s realistically only a slim chance that company will actually introduce laser wipers.
The company’s upcoming Roadster might even feature a “SpaceX package” option that tricks it out with actual rocket thrusters — just in case laser windshield wipers aren’t sci-fi enough.
It’s an admittedly gimmicky idea — but then again, that’s kind of Tesla’s thing 😉
Reference- Electrek, Patent.Google.Com, Futurism, Tesla Online Newsroom