Love it or hate it, the Cybertruck and its futuristic design have a lot going for it. However, with all those polarizing design choices, the windshield wiper is about as dull and ugly as it gets.
People can’t stop talking about the bare steel outer shell, bullet-proof windows, potential 0-60 mph speeds for a truck, and everything else Tesla does. That said, one aspect of the Cybertruck is about as basic and practical as it gets, at least for now, and that’s the massive windshield wiper blade running up the entire side of the vehicle.
In December, we got our first look at Tesla’s solution for the massive windshield. At the time, CEO Elon Musk was quick to reply to everyone on Twitter that the design was not final and would not make it to production.
That is not the production wiper
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2021
Will Tesla and CEO Elon Musk come up with a futuristic answer to the wiper blade problem to match the rest of the unique vehicle? It sounds like Tesla is working on a laser system that can detect when something is on the glass, then clean it, and it recently obtained a patent for the technology.
That said, this late in production, we’re not sure if the company has enough time to implement it. Last week Tesla opened its new Gigafactory in Texas and had a few Cybertruck prototypes out on stage making the rounds. One visitor got some up-close images of the windshield wiper system, and here we are four months later, and it’s still nothing special.
While there’s no way to know if it’s the final design, Tesla has confirmed it plans to finish designing the Cybertruck this year in time to fully start production and release the electric truck in 2023. We’re seeing one large wiper arm with two smaller traditional wiper blades so far. And while it’s far from pretty or futuristic, it’s practical.
Using a standard wiper system, owners would be able to easily replace blades as necessary, rather than have to deal with some fancy system that extends out of the frunk or an all-new laser system. Plus, we’re not sure how well lasers would handle dirt and snow, considering this is a truck with the expectation that owners will take it offroad.
Either way, these latest images from April 2022 suggest that Tesla is either still trying to figure out a solution to its ugly wiper blades problem or that it settled on what you see above.
We’ll keep an eye out for more details and are hopeful that by the time this thing hits the streets in 2023 (if it does), the company will figure out a more elegant solution.
via InsideEVs
