New drone footage of a prototype Tesla Cybertruck being tested on the company’s track in Fremont, California, was published Friday, prompting Elon Musk to address the vehicle’s hilariously oversized windshield wiper.
The Cybertruck’s massive, flat windshield, blending seamlessly into the hood, was one of the electric truck’s most distinctive features when it was first unveiled in 2019. But keeping a clean windshield was something Tesla’s design team didn’t even consider, as evidenced by the original prototype’s lack of a working windshield wiper.
But now that the truck is getting closer to production, we’re starting to see the compromises that Tesla will have to make in order to accommodate the Cybertruck’s polarizing design — the need for an absolutely massive windshield wiper being one of them. And Musk, in his own fashion, is publicly airing his displeasure with those compromises.
“The wiper is what troubles me most,” Musk wrote on Twitter in response to comments about the wiper’s massive size. “No easy solution. Deployable wiper that stows in front trunk would be ideal, but complex.”
The Cybertruck, which isn’t scheduled to start shipping until 2022, is supposed to use “armor glass,” which memorably failed during the onstage demo when Tesla’s lead designer Franz von Holzhausen smashed two of the vehicle’s windows onstage with a metal ball. The company is also working on something called an “electromagnetic” wiper that it plans on unveiling with the Cybertruck, according to Electrek.
Musk also noted that the side-view mirrors are required to be included by law, but “owners are allowed to modify their cars” after the fact. Whether that means replacing the side-view mirrors with mounted cameras, as seen in some concept vehicles, or taking them off altogether, we can’t say for sure. (Please don’t take off your side-view mirrors.)
The Cybertruck spotted on Tesla’s test track also featured a few other notable alterations from the original prototype, including a rounder, less-angular front end and a new set of headlights under the forward-facing light bar.
Musk has promised to provide an update on Tesla’s product roadmap during the company’s next earnings call in January.