this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2025
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You're not technically wrong since they were just early to the party with driver assistance & Lane departure warning/avoidance systems, but since the USA made those types of systems mandatory for all cars in 2023, most vehicles 2023+ will now have a similar cost.
I don't get it, what does that have to do with the windshield design?
The cameras that track the lines on the road and other cars are mounted to the windshield. these windshields are more expensive because the camera brackets have to be precisely aligned and the glass (in that area) must be completely free of optical distortions. Both of those things raise the price of the windshield, and increase design complexity
To mount the cameras on the windshield is a design decision, though
Yes, a design decision initiated by Tesla and a trend the entire industry followed outside of a few autonomous taxis that have the lidar units on the roof.
However, the alternative requires a separate lens cleaning system as the former just reuses the windshield wiper. So it does reduce the complexity somewhat.
Or maybe I'm missing your point entirely?
Would a small wiper to handle the lens cleaning not be more cost effective than increasing the complexity of the windshield to the point of significant cost increase?
You would still need the windscreen to be near perfect where the cameras are, which is the big cost.
Another option would be a separate piece of glass to cover the cameras.
That's what I was wondering. Why not just mount the camera in another location with its own glass/cleaning system. The reuse of the windshield wiper is very clever, but if it's complicating the windshield glass to such a degree, maybe it's not worth it?
I'm not on the production/manufacturing side so I could only speculate on the costs. The entire industry's use of the windshield mounted cameras would suggest the costs are lower. Even at the ultra high end like Bently, where there's plenty of profit margin to experiment with, they're still using the windshield mounted cameras.
The other factor to consider would be that the driver can very easily know when the windshield wipers aren't working (an therefore ignore or deactivate suggested lane departure corrections), but a tiny wiper mounted above the roof would be impossible to see while driving.
That second factor is not really a factor. The windshield wipers on my 20 year old truck have never stopped working, just replace the wipers every once in a while.
If you can't see that you are not departing your lane on your own, the you are not capable of driving, and you drivers licence should be revoked.
Teslas are not autonomous, if you can't drive, you shouldn't be driving. I'm all for self driving, most people drive like shit with 30 distractions going at the same time, but until they are actually autonomous, the person driving still has to drive. If they can not tell that they are departing or not departing a lane by themselves, they should not be allowed to drive period.
The second factor is a factor just not a common one, which is why I listed it second. I've never personally seen a wiper motor die, but I have seen the transmissions break, and wiper blades that get torn and wiper arms get bent in (extremely) icy conditions. Your point about most drivers being distracted & driving like shit kinda makes it a bigger concern, since there's no way distracted drivers would notice the additional wiper of a "'self-driving"' camera has gone bad or gotten bent.
I don't disagree with you on the other points though. There are NO level 5 fully autonomous self-driving cars currently, only pretenders that give people who can't pay attention a false sense of security.