In an age in which cars are becoming increasingly sophisticated and reliant on high-tech gadgets and electronic frippery, the idea of entrusting a strip of rubber fastened to a plastic stick with a task as important as clearing your windscreen seems decidedly anachronistic.
It's been 110 years since Mary Anderson devised the first windscreen wiper and since then the technology has evolved considerably. Automatic wipers arrived in the 1920s, negating the need for the driver to actually crank the wipers by hand, followed by intermittent wipers, rain-sensing wipers and, of course, headlamp wipers; however, the basic principle of Anderson's invention has remained unchanged.
Now, however, McLaren has decided that windscreen wipers are just a bit too old-hat and has unveiled a new solution to the problem of wet windscreens. Instead, the Woking-based firm suggests fitting cars with a high-tech ultrasound device which stops anything sticking to the windscreen.
Adapted from a similar system already in use on fighter jets, the technology would use a high frequency sound wave to create a force field around the glass, preventing rain, dirt and insects from sticking to it.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, McLaren's chief designer Frank Stephenson said: "The windscreen wiper is an archaic piece of technology.
"We've had them since cars began and it's one of the last bastions of design to overcome."
He also described how the military had been secretive of the technology, saying: "It took a lot of effort to get this out of a source in the military.
"I asked why you don't see wipers on some aircraft when they are coming in at very low speeds for landing.
"I was told that it's not a coating on the surface but a high frequency electronic system that never fails and is constantly active. Nothing will attach to the windscreen."
Click here to sign up for our monthly newsletter
| Popular news stories |
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
