Tesla’s Automatic Wipers: A New Approach to Performance Improvement

Tesla’s automatic wipers have long been a subject of debate. However, the company is now adopting a fresh strategy to enhance their performance, at least on a temporary basis, with the latest software update.

The subpar performance of Tesla’s automatic wipers can be attributed to their reliance on the vehicle’s onboard cameras for activation. This is a departure from the norm, as most automakers use rain sensors for their automatic wipers.

Tesla has made efforts to enhance the performance of the automatic wipers. The most significant of these is the implementation of a “Deep Rain” neural network. This was designed to learn and improve their performance by taking into account any manual interventions when in automatic mode.

Despite the initial rollout of this feature in 2019, the automatic wipers remain a point of contention. They have been known to activate on clear, sunny days, or not wipe quickly enough during heavy rainfall.

In the recent spring update, 2024.14, Tesla is adopting a somewhat new strategy to temporarily enhance the automatic wipers. Although this was not mentioned in the release notes, the accompanying owner’s manual indicates that manually pressing the wiper button will now “temporarily increase the sensitivity of the wipers.” (via Not A Tesla App)

This is the extent of the details provided by Tesla. However, the phrasing suggests that Tesla is temporarily altering its method of detecting rainfall, which could potentially lead to lasting improvements in the future.

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Source: Drive Tesla