Why do driverless Waymo cars still need windshield wipers?
_jaydeepkarale · x · 2026-11-15
Sharing a photo of a fleet of Waymo robotaxis parked in the rain, the author poses a deceptively simple question: if there's no driver inside, why do these self-driving cars still need windshield wipers?
The answer lies in how autonomous perception works: exterior cameras and optical sensors, like human eyes, depend on a clear field of view — a dirty or fogged windshield degrades the visual input the system relies on. Wipers serve the sensors (and passengers), not a human driver.
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