Why walk from the parking lot to the entrance of a building when the car can drop you off at the door? With modern computer technology such as the Tesla autopilot system, this vision becomes realistic – and maybe soon even realized: A Tesla driver asked about it on Twitter, and CEO Elon Musk gave an answer that could be interpreted as a cautious yes.
Brought to the door by the Tesla
“We have to complete the work on the basic core code for autopilot, then the functions will come quickly,” Musk wrote to the user, who specifically asked about the autopark option. He used the expression “reverse summon”. In the United States, owners of newer Teslas can already use the extended Smart Summon function, which allows their cars to drive up to 150 meters over parking spaces without a person behind the wheel. Reverse summon would mean that the owner gets out at the destination and the Tesla then looks for a parking space.
We need to finish work on Autopilot core foundation code & 3D labeling, then functionality will happen quickly. Not long now.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2020
The original Summon function has been around since software version 7.1 from January 2016. Customers with FSD options (for fully autonomous driving) can use it to drive their car out of parking spaces or their own garage. With version 10, Tesla introduced Smart Summon (intelligent calling) last September, but not yet in Europe. Since then, Tesla drivers with FSD options booked have been able to park their electric cars in parking lots and have them driven to them. Both functions (Summon and Smart Summon) are controlled via the Tesla app on the smartphone.
Summon restrictions in Europe
Smart Summon initially sparked so much enthusiasm that the function was used over half a million times in the first few days. However, it did not always work without errors. There were several reports of a slight collision with other vehicles or errors when parking out of the garage, including damage to the paintwork. The fundamental code revision mentioned by Musk, which, according to him, should not take long, could bring improvement here – and Reverse Summon could also be one of the promised new functions.
Probably not in Europe: according to a campaign on Change.org, customers in Europe have been able to use a “limited edition” of the Smart Summon since December 24, 2019. However, the user must not be further than 6 meters from the car and the maximum driving distance is 20 meters. Such restrictions would make Reverse Summon useless, for example when trying to avoid walking through the rain.
–