A recent innovation has excited some in the car design business – a move that could see the end to windscreen wipers. Apparently, using “nanotechnology”, Italian car designers have come up with a self-clearing windscreen. It uses a special oxide to repel water and miniature nozzles which blast out water and air to get rid of dust and dirt. The windscreen uses super-thin layers of nanoparticles on top of the windscreen. Each layer is a couple of atoms thick, meaning they can work simultaneously on water and dust.

And it does appear an attractive idea – after all, even the best windscreen wipers don’t reach the whole screen, which means that drivers have to put up with a permanent “film” that restricts vision at the extremes.

Windscreen wipers also get frozen to the glass overnight in winter – a major cause of call outs for the emergency services, when fuses blow as a result of drivers starting the car without first freeing up the wipers. Whether the new wiper-free technology could cope with UK road salt and grime has yet to be seen.

It’s certainly been a while since windscreen wipers were on the drawing board: in 1969, the first intermittent wipers were introduced. But if this gets the go-ahead, I will miss the hypnotic trance windscreen wipers put me into as I try to black out another dodgy driver who has just cut me up – again