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New Coating Technology Promises Self-Cleaning Cars
Zothecula writes "Nissan's "Scratch Guard Coat" has been healing fine scratches on the company's cars for a few years now, and the technology has also made its way into an iPhone case. More recent developments have produced coatings to heal more substantial scratches and scrapes using nano-capsules. Now researchers at The Netherlands' Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) have developed a coating that is not only self-healing, but also promises to free car owners of the tiresome chore of washing the car ."
I just leave it out in the middle of a rain storm and it comes out shiny and clean!
welcome our self-cleaning self-driving overlords
...scientists at Nissan have discovered what they now call "Teflon". Updates to follow.
Cars? Who cares about cars, just wait for the next rain.
What about self-cleaning teenager rooms?
...explain to me why we would see it on anything but a very high end luxury sports car?
Current paint keeps consumers happy until the warranty is over, and if the paint is damaged, it is considered the owner's problem. One might say this could be offered as an upgrade, but wow, that would make selling the cars a nightmare (none would be on the lot and would have to come straight from the factory, the factory would have an entire additional set of inventory for all body parts so they can be painted the extra set of "new paint" colours, etc).
Nice thought, though. People with $5,000+ will be able to have their cars repainted with it.
You know, of course, that mankind's lazy desire for truly self-cleaning surfaces will be what leads us to destruction at the teeny, tiny, hands of the nanite plague...
Just a minor nanite-layer replication error and the next user to touch that self-cleaning toilet seat will be converted directly into a lemony-fresh slurry. It'll be all downhill from there.
...roads? Cant we figure out a way to not need roads anymore?
One might say this could be offered as an upgrade, but wow, that would make selling the cars a nightmare (none would be on the lot and would have to come straight from the factory)
Why is that a problem? MINI already manufactures most cars to order, from color to different interior options. People do not mind waiting a month for a car if they can more fully customize it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It's the inside that's the problem!
It's the inside that's the problem!
It's the inside that's the problem!
Gosh! Money laying on the ground people.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Just program it up to drive to the car wash, drive through it, and drive back home.
If Google adds functionality enabling it to pick up stuff at fast food drive-ins, we're all set for life.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
This is the same marketing pitch that's been used to sell every wax, polish, potion and coating since time began.
That's why God gave us hand car wash places.
The one I got to has free wi-fi and vibrating recliners.
Ugh, I can see it now: If you scratch your paint, you will have to pay for someone with a high-tech paint room to match the present finish. Of course, you can use spray paint, but that part of your car will always - mysteriously - attract dust. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but it really is a little frivolous and will end up just increasing expenses. It's not a BFD to drive around in a slightly dusty car (between cleansing rainstorms).
This will never happen in the States.
The carwash political lobbyists and Unite Carwash Labor Employees of America Now! (UCLEAN) will bury this technology.
Look what happened to the 100mpg ICE engine.
Won't somebody think of the car wash towels dryers!!
I'm wondering if this technology might be used on my brother-in-law.
In the coming weeks lobbyists from the car wash industry, every organization that does a fund raiser car wash and probably from that guy on the street corner that will wash your entire car with Windex for $2 will be decrying this terrible innovation in auto paint. This stuff will lead to nano apocalypse, lost revenue and general dissatisfaction with life. Someone think of the children too!
Car washes certainly won't be going anywhere. There are a lot of non-painted/coated surfaces on a car that will still need to be cleaned. Not to mention interiors.
also promises to free car owners of the tiresome chore of washing the car
Having children is also another way to accomplish this, albeit at much greater cost. Once I (and my siblings) turned 10, my parents never washed a vehicle again (until we left the house).
"Dad, can I watch TV?"
"No. Now go wash the car."
Having a surface that's ultra hydrophobic / resistant to dirt would seem to make sense to keep aircraft from icing up.
That market consists of men who want to watch girls in bikini's get lathered up and sprayed down.
what about:
- dead bugs
- tree sap
- particles of hot patch
there is no possible way to keep these things from sticking. These things require physical scraping and nasty solvents to remove, even from a brand new shiny slick paint finish.
Cats always had self cleaning technology. Are they adopting it for car use? Would it mean the car could cough up dirt balls?
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
They coated the outside of the laptop with it, giving it a slightly rubbery/felt-like texture. Whereas regular plastic laptop lids picked up scratches from being slid in and out of cases, on the Thinkpad you could simply rub these scratches out. Dunno of Lenovo still uses it. I first learned of it when I complained to a friend that my Thinkpad had picked up a lot of scratches over the years. He told me about the coating, so I spent about 15 minutes rubbing and it looked nearly as good as new.
I mention this before the Apple fans start claiming Apple "pioneered" the use of such coatings in computers.
Wow, that's great. Will it work on my dog too so I don't have to give him a bath? j/k
What I really want to know is will this technology work to keep the kid's car seats clean? And all other objects within 3 feet? And maybe the kids themselves? FYI, leaving the kids out in a rain storm does not leave them shiny and clean. Um, so I hear.
Also the article has no info on the UV/chemical resistance of this coating, or how often it would have to be reapplied. Where are the details?
It will kill the summer time tradition of girls having a "bikini car wash". Oh the humanity!
I live in a farm, I have to drive miles and miles of dirt road to get to the nearest tarmac pavement thoroughfare
The biggest "dirt" on my car are DIRT itself - that is, soil and mud, caking on the side and beneath of my car
As they dried, they got hard
Even if I stray them off, they still leave the reddish stain behind
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
I'm wondering why no one makes a 'dimpled' car, a la Mythbusters. Seem like a good idea for a fiberglass 'kit car' manufacturer.
Where's my FLYING car?!? Stop wasting time with paints that fix themselves or wash themselves, or even with cars that drive themselves, (okay that last one's kinda cool...) start working on making it so I don't have to sit in my scratched, dirty, non-self-driving car IN TRAFFIC!!!
1/8 of the 21st century is already gone, and you still have to stay on the ground when driving! WTF!?! Come on, guys... get it together already!
I just let my car remain dirty. In addition to being easier, this leaves a protective layer of dirt covering the paint film. (I do remove bird droppings, however)
acid rain could help, maybe the dude lives in china.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
and ask how many people are employed in a carwash worldwide ?
Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?