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Amazing. It reminds me of the car company that built rain detection in their car and turned on your wipers so you don’t have to. I don’t remember which manufac

Amazing. It reminds me of the car company that built rain detection in their car and turned on your wipers so you don’t have to. I don’t remember which manufacturer it was but their ad was hilarious “think of what you can do with that extra time you would have used to turn on your wipers”

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rsyring 5y ago
I have a car that detects rain quantity and automatically increases or decreases wiper speed. I still have to turn the wipers on, but otherwise it's completely automatic. I never would have thought a feature like this mattered until I actually had it. Now I wouldn't want a car without it. FWIW, this feature in my BMW works great. The same feature on my Ford Expedition doesn't work nearly as well.
- ninju 5y ago
  Many cars now can start the wipers, in addition to adjust the wiper speed, when rain is sensed on the windshield https://www.consumerreports.org/automotive-technology/rain-sensing-windshield-wipers/ https://www.consumerreports.org/automotive-technology/rain-s... This tells the system to *activate the wipers*, as well as adjust wiper speed and frequency based on the intensity of the precipitation combined with the vehicle’s speed.
  - adrianmonk 5y ago
    > Many cars now can start the wipers That's been around for quite a while. My car from 2006 does it.
    - lanstin 5y ago
      My Tesla model 3 has it, but like so much else new advanced tech it isn't yet as good as the human thing it was replacing. But it is less work.
      - mulmen 5y ago
        My 10 year old BMW does this and it works perfectly. It's much nicer than fiddling with my wipers constantly. Tesla isn't blazing any trails here, they are just stubborn and won't buy an off the shelf system that already works.
    - smeej 5y ago
      My dad's car was doing this at least as far back as 2003. He thought it was so cool. When he first got the car, he was like, "Watch this!" and squirted a whole water bottle at the windshield just to make them come on. Sixteen-year-old me recorded this as peak dorky daddom in my memory.
  - mirkules 5y ago
    I'm really curious from those folks who have this feature if it is actually useful (and why), or if it's really just a novelty?
    - glenngillen 5y ago
      Yeah, I almost never touch my wipers. Only exceptions I can think of is if there’s a very very suddenly change in the speed/volume of rain falling, I’m stopped for an extended period (the automatic speed adjustment works better when you’re moving), or if a bug or something has hit the windscreen and I need to squirt to clean it. That sentence was a real effort to go down memory lane though, it’s just not something I really have to think about anymore.
    - mulmen 5y ago
      I have it on my BMW. It works great. There is still a similar looking control as you would have with a conventional system but instead of wiper speed it is basically a "sensitivity" or a "desired dryness". Here in the PNW rain can be a light mist or proper raindrops and may change minute to minute. So I just turn it on, set it to something in the middle and the wipers wipe when necessary. I rarely have to touch it again after turning it on. Compare this to my old Toyota that just had low-med-high. Low was still moving constantly, the only intermittent was a manual "mist". This meant my wipers were running way too much even on low or I had to hit the mist every 10-20 seconds.
    - martyvis 5y ago
      It's great (have it on my Subaru). It is particularly useful at that wet road or drizzle stage when more water comes from other vehicles than the sky. At that level it might wipe only 3 to 6 times a minute. It certainly removes that over-compensating dry wiping you get without it. I used my older Toyota Land cruiser on a road trip and constantly adjusting the intermittent interval in the drizzle was a pain.
    - baud147258 5y ago
      as an infrequent driver, I have difficulties splitting my attention between driving and dealing with controls like headlights and wipers, so anything that automate that is great
- deleted 5y ago
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baud147258 5y ago
after driving a car with this (and automatic headlights), it's not as a time saved, but rather attention that can be kept on the driving and not fiddling with the controls;

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rsyring 5y ago

I have a car that detects rain quantity and automatically increases or decreases wiper speed. I still have to turn the wipers on, but otherwise it's completely automatic. I never would have thought a feature like this mattered until I actually had it. Now I wouldn't want a car without it. FWIW, this feature in my BMW works great. The same feature on my Ford Expedition doesn't work nearly as well.

ninju 5y ago
Many cars now can start the wipers, in addition to adjust the wiper speed, when rain is sensed on the windshield https://www.consumerreports.org/automotive-technology/rain-sensing-windshield-wipers/ https://www.consumerreports.org/automotive-technology/rain-s... This tells the system to *activate the wipers*, as well as adjust wiper speed and frequency based on the intensity of the precipitation combined with the vehicle’s speed.
- adrianmonk 5y ago
  > Many cars now can start the wipers That's been around for quite a while. My car from 2006 does it.
  - lanstin 5y ago
    My Tesla model 3 has it, but like so much else new advanced tech it isn't yet as good as the human thing it was replacing. But it is less work.
    - mulmen 5y ago
      My 10 year old BMW does this and it works perfectly. It's much nicer than fiddling with my wipers constantly. Tesla isn't blazing any trails here, they are just stubborn and won't buy an off the shelf system that already works.
  - smeej 5y ago
    My dad's car was doing this at least as far back as 2003. He thought it was so cool. When he first got the car, he was like, "Watch this!" and squirted a whole water bottle at the windshield just to make them come on. Sixteen-year-old me recorded this as peak dorky daddom in my memory.
- mirkules 5y ago
  I'm really curious from those folks who have this feature if it is actually useful (and why), or if it's really just a novelty?
  - glenngillen 5y ago
    Yeah, I almost never touch my wipers. Only exceptions I can think of is if there’s a very very suddenly change in the speed/volume of rain falling, I’m stopped for an extended period (the automatic speed adjustment works better when you’re moving), or if a bug or something has hit the windscreen and I need to squirt to clean it. That sentence was a real effort to go down memory lane though, it’s just not something I really have to think about anymore.
  - mulmen 5y ago
    I have it on my BMW. It works great. There is still a similar looking control as you would have with a conventional system but instead of wiper speed it is basically a "sensitivity" or a "desired dryness". Here in the PNW rain can be a light mist or proper raindrops and may change minute to minute. So I just turn it on, set it to something in the middle and the wipers wipe when necessary. I rarely have to touch it again after turning it on. Compare this to my old Toyota that just had low-med-high. Low was still moving constantly, the only intermittent was a manual "mist". This meant my wipers were running way too much even on low or I had to hit the mist every 10-20 seconds.
  - martyvis 5y ago
    It's great (have it on my Subaru). It is particularly useful at that wet road or drizzle stage when more water comes from other vehicles than the sky. At that level it might wipe only 3 to 6 times a minute. It certainly removes that over-compensating dry wiping you get without it. I used my older Toyota Land cruiser on a road trip and constantly adjusting the intermittent interval in the drizzle was a pain.
  - baud147258 5y ago
    as an infrequent driver, I have difficulties splitting my attention between driving and dealing with controls like headlights and wipers, so anything that automate that is great
deleted 5y ago
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baud147258 5y ago

after driving a car with this (and automatic headlights), it's not as a time saved, but rather attention that can be kept on the driving and not fiddling with the controls;