Tesla released Smart Summon in early September with their V10 software update, and this feature basically allows vehicle owners to call their vehicles directly to their location, thus eliminating the need to walk to their cars in a parking lot. Unfortunately, the system could use some work as it can’t account for sudden obstacles that appear around it, like other vehicles or persons. Read more for an example showing what happens when an unexpected vehicle suddenly pulls too close in Smart Summon mode.
Fortunately, Elon Musk announced during Tesla’s Q3 2019 earnings call that the team would be using data collected from over one-million uses of Smart Summon to release improvements in the coming weeks. This feature has yet to be approved in Europe where legislators have enforced even stricter regulations on Tesla’s Autopilot software.
It’s now over 1 million uses of Smart Summon, and in the next week or so we will be releasing an improved version of Smart Summon taking into account all the data from those 1 million Smart Summon attempts. So, this really illustrates the value of having a massive fleet, because it allows us to collect these corner cases and learn from them, and use street learning and become rapidly better just as Navigator and Autopilot did on the freeway. So, expect a number of improvements in Smart Summon in the weeks to come. And this is really just the beginning as we collect more data and Autopilot and Full Self-Driving functionality get better,” said Elon Musk.
