Tech giant's self-driving cars won't have windscreen wipers

folarin okunola

September 1, 2015 3:42 PM

When someone asked if the car had windshield wipers, a Google employee replied, "Yes, but not on the windshield. They’re on our sensors—our car’s 'eyes.”

Google's Self-Driving prototype car

Ready to be blown out of your mind?

Google announced on Monday that it is bringing its self-driving prototype cars to Austin, Texas, USA. The company brought one of its Koala cars to Thinkery, a children's museum in Austin, where they received some intriguing questions.

READ: Take a peek inside tech giant's self-driving car

When someone asked if the car had windshield wipers, a Google employee replied, "Yes, but not on the windshield. They’re on our sensors—our car’s 'eyes.” "Essentially, the Google car doesn't have windshield wipers because it doesn't need them."

Think about that for a second.

The ultimate goal of an autonomous car is to be fully autonomous and as such a self-driving car wouldn't require any human input other than specifying a destination. And that’s why Google's self-driving prototype doesn't have windshield wipers because humans aren't required to see out of it.

This brave new world of 'cars' truly aren't cars as we understand them. Yes, they have four wheels and take people from point A to point B, but the similarities end there. If humans don't need to drive these cars, a very different approach to design is allowed.

Initially, when Google said its cars wouldn’t have a steering wheel or pedals, minds were blown.

"They won’t have a steering wheel, accelerator pedal, or brake pedal… because they don’t need them. Our software and sensors do all the work," said the director of Google's Self-Driving Car Project, Chris Urmson, when the Koala prototype was first announced. "It was inspiring to start with a blank sheet of paper and ask, 'What should be different about this kind of vehicle?'"

READ: Tech giant's self-driving car records first injury accident

The fact that it doesn't have windshield wipers isn't unheard of and it shouldn't come as a surprise, but somehow it still does. There is no denying that Google's vision of the car requires a complete recalibration of our understanding.

folarin okunola