- Tesla released "Smart Summon" years ago, but the feature was a disaster and had to be removed.
- Actual Smart Summon returned on 9/2 with the 2024.26.20 software update.
- It can go from point to point over short distances without a driver, but it can't park itself.
Four years ago, Tesla added its smart summon feature; a way for Tesla drivers to let the car drive itself across short distances. It’s not full self-driving or a Tesla’s Robotaxi, but it (theoretically) allowed the car to pull itself out of a parking space and drive to its owner. Kind of. When it dropped it was lambasted by media and owners alike for its terrible performance—even Musk himself admitted that it wasn’t working all that well. He promised that a functional smart summon (cheekily named Actually Smart Summon or ASS) would come in a few weeks.
I guess we’re a little liberal with the concept of a “few weeks”, but quite a while later, Tesla got ASS—or at least elements of it—up and running. Surprising everyone, Tesla re-released the feature on Labor Day during its 2024.26.20 software update. Initial videos show that it works far better now than it did in 2020. It still can’t park in a parking spot, though.
Several notable Tesla accounts have posted videos on social media this weekend, demonstrating the revised feature. There are two modes “come to me” and “go to target” which both are pretty self-explanatory. Once again, the car can’t actually park itself in a space, so when the vehicle reaches the target, it simply stops. With that said, it does seem to work much, much better than its earlier implementation. At least two different accounts have posted videos of them riding along or watching the car maneuver in parking lots by itself.
The improvement likely comes from the shift to Teslas Vision, which is the camera-based system Tesla uses for its semi-autonomous driving features. Previously, Smart Summon used the car’s ultrasonic sensors to feel its way through parking lots and reach its driver. At least for this use case, the camera-based system is superior than the short-range sensors. Tesla owners also get a camera feed of what the car is doing while it’s moving, so its driver can ensure it won’t plow into something while the feature is active. The release notes say that the owner is responsible if anything goes wrong with the vehicle.
With the update, there’s now a “Dumb Summon” mode, which allows the car to be moved forward and backward with simple arrow key controls in the app, not unlike the remote park assist feature found on higher-trimmed Hyundais and Kias.
Of course, there are plenty of concerns levied at the manufacturer’s careless implementation of unassisted driving, but slow parking lot speeds feel a lot lower risk of an FSD screw-up on public roads. Hopefully, Tesla will figure out how to get cars to park themselves without ending up in a Waymo-esque honk-fest situation, but on a much grander scale.
Contact the author: kevin.williams@insideevs.com
