The Tesla Cybertruck may not be coming this year, but the automaker's clearly busy sorting out what the production electric pickup truck will bring to the road. In a new patent application Tesla filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office this month, the automaker described a glass-forming method that involves intricate curves and "feature lines." Essentially, Tesla describes bringing a little bit of personality to the Cybertruck's front windshield.
As neat as this sounds, it also seems a tad unnecessary. Then again, I'm not the one engineering this electric pickup, so more power to Tesla. Anyway, the patent describes heat treatments via lasers to create bends, curves or other feature lines to provide character to the glass. With this method Tesla wants dibs on, it believes the company's engineers can create curves with a radius of between 0.07 and 0.2 inches, for just enough pizazz. The patent also describes multiple layers of glass for more intricate designs.
Tesla thinks it can do some cool stuff with glass.
USPTOIt appears Tesla isn't only interested in this technique for the exterior, but the interior too. The patent description goes on to explain how this method could also create the Cybertruck's dashboard out of glass. An all-glass dashboard sounds tedious, but Tesla's patent application makes note of a film layer of sorts that acts as a cushion. This would, hopefully, provide durability and keep the dashboard from shattering in the event of a crash.
Tesla does not operate a public relations department to field requests for comment, but automakers typically tell us patents don't necessarily equal something for production. And that's valid -- sometimes patents simply don't work out.
The best timeline we have for the Cybertruck is that production will fire up sometime in 2022 while the automaker readies beta trucks by the end of this year. However, Tesla's operations are always incredibly fluid, so we'll have to keep our eyes and ears peeled for more Cybertruck news as it comes in the meantime.
