Enhanced Summon, where are you?

[turnem]

I wonder how it decides when it is going to ignore parking lines and when it is not? There appears to be little pattern to it.

On a related topic, I wonder what the over/under is on how long it will be before someone runs their car into a pole in a parking lot, while Smart Summon is in use?

I would also like someone to try this in an empty parking lot which has parking stops at the end of the spaces (not curbs). It does seem that they have invested considerable effort/priority to identify curbs - I wonder how robust it is for a lower curb which doesn’t quite clear the suspension/battery...

It's interesting about the parking lines for sure. It seemed to have a decent understanding of where it should be driving most of the time but you're right - it seems to randomly decide at other times to cut right through parking spaces.

I will say that I'm more impressed with it than I thought I'd be.

 

[electronblue]

Did I ?

LOL. Gaslighting too is a difficult game, no?

I congratulate myself on an almost @Bladerskb level of foresight!

Tesla and the end of quarter dance is nothing if not predictable.

I thought comparing yourself to a "senior software engr" trolling a competitor's forum would be embarrassing

BTW, I've been predicting about Summon going out before the quarter end for a while now. It makes absolutely as much sense as trying to deliver as many vehicles as possible in a quarter (or in almost every company trying to finish up some work before the end of some kind of milestone).

Irony — self-deprecating irony especially — is a difficult game.

Oh - didn't realize my description of him applies to you as well … my bad

You replied to me, didn’t you?

 

[electronblue]

Found this review on Reddit:

"Smart Summon is mindblowing

Software/Hardware
I know I know, we’ve heard it a million times but seriously guys.

I just got back from testing out smart summon and it’s so insane to see your beautiful Tesla drive itself to you. Sure it’s not faster than 5MPH but honestly, that seems plenty fast when you’re not in the driver’s seat.

The added driving visualizations to the app are clever and smart, adding a sense of reassurance while your Tesla does its thing. It even tells you when it’s waiting for a pedestrian to finish crossing!

I think the cherry on top, though, is definitely the reactions you get. I had two people ask me as I was driving away if my car was driving itself and they were ecstatic when they heard me say yes. They told me how weird it was to see the car drive to me and then see me hop into the driver’s seat and drive off. I know from the two reactions alone, that it’ll be the highlight of their days and mine.

Dare I say, summon is more than a party trick now."
Smart Summon is mindblowing : teslamotors

I actually agree with the opinion that it is mindblowing to a lot of people. Tesla is nearing three years late delivering it given the original 2016 promises but I would imagine this is a feature that will excite a lot of people, similar or better than NoA which also is a bit of trick, but still an exciting trick to a lot of people. Especially those who have not become cynical of the history compared to all the promises (coast to coast Summon in 2017) and stuff.

Once this is more widely delivered, I can see Tesla calling mission accomplished on EAP finally and I wouldn’t disagree too much with them. The traffic sign recognition parity with AP1 probably won’t come to HW2/2.5 EAP, but that was a verbal implication so it is probably almost as if it didn’t exist for them. I mean it wasn’t even the second most worthless promise, an Elon Tweet...

This plays into one of the actual advantages Tesla has. One is the deployment advantage, since they have a platform to deliver things to. But that is not what is mainly at play here, though it plays a part. The main thing here is the courage or craziness advantage that is foremost here of trying things traditional automotive companies only have the guts to try inside their labs or internal testing fleets.

 

[diplomat33]

Sorry for the cross-post but I said I'd link it here as well. My first impressions on Enhanced Summon. Will be available in 4K when YT finishes processing it...

I take back what I said about Smart Summon cutting through empty parking spaces. Tesla obviously fixed that. That was a fantastic video of Smart Summon.

 

[emmz0r]

It should be a clear indicator where they're at with level 5 no geofence. Still some way to go till Dec 31st

 

[diplomat33]

The main thing here is the courage or craziness advantage that is foremost here of trying things traditional automotive companies only have the guts to try inside their labs or internal testing fleets.

Yeah but Tesla also pulls it off. The naysayers were predicting doom, a Smart Summon apocalypse. They said that Smart Summon would be hitting curbs and smashing into cars left and right if Tesla released it to the general public. well, looks like the Apocalypse will have to wait. Smart Summon is out to the general public and we are getting a flood of videos and Smart Summon is really great!

 

[electronblue]

Yeah but Tesla also pulls it off. The naysayers were predicting doom, a Smart Summon apocalypse. They said that Smart Summon would be hitting curbs and smashing into cars left and right if Tesla released it to the general public. well, looks like the Apocalypse will have to wait. Smart Summon is out to the general public and we are getting a flood of videos and Smart Summon is really great!

Let me disagree with your hubris here.

Not with the part that Enhanced Summon (which is it?) is an exciting development because it is crazy bold to release and it is definitely a game change in what we can expect from current car driver’s aids. This is all true.

But you are once again jumping onto the ”wow is us” wagon and putting down potentially valid concerns. It is your prerogative of course, but I would say the objective approach is again somewhere in-between the wow is us and woe is us.

Realistically we can not say one or two days after a release whether those concerns were valid or not. Maybe, maybe not. Let’s see.

Also, nice strawman there. Nobody said it would be hitting cars left and right...

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

I take back what I said about Smart Summon cutting through empty parking spaces.

Wait, what? The video shows the car cutting through empty parking spaces. Not all the time - but sometimes. It is unclear what determines when it happens. Maybe it is more reliable if you park the car manually and then summon it (in this video Summon was used to “park” the car after the initial experiment)? You’d have to do controlled experiments from the same spot quite a few times with the same conditions to see whether it is consistent.

It also sometimes starts by moving forward and sometimes by moving in reverse. It may well be based on how you parked the car - no one has experimented and reported on that.

 

[diplomat33]

Wait, what? The video shows the car cutting through empty parking spaces. Not all the time - but sometimes. It is unclear what determines when it happens.

I made an earlier post in another thread that Smart Summon is like a pet that just tries to find the shortest path back to its owner. Clearly, that is not what Smart Summon does based on the first attempt at the beginning of this video:

It is an empty parking lot and the shortest path would have been to just cut straight through all the empty spots but instead Smart Summon follows the parking lanes and goes all the way around like you are supposed to. Clearly, Smart Summon does try to follow the lanes in the parking lot. So I was trying to correct my earlier error about Smart Summon. I was wrong to say that it just looks for the most direct path. Now, maybe it does not always follow the lanes correctly but it does try.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

and smashing into cars left and right if Tesla released it to the general public.

I mean...definitely not an apocalypse, but it is not perfect (note there are TWO tweets here - one from inside car).

David F Guajardo on Twitter

Caution (and using the feature with a clear line of sight to your car AND its surroundings) is advised.

The Tesla was likely not at fault here (it was stopped), but this accident would not likely have occurred without Smart Summon.

 

[RDoc]

I'd like to see this in a parking lot that wasn't empty with no traffic or pedestrians.

 

[diplomat33]

I mean...definitely not an apocalypse, but it is not perfect (note there are TWO tweets here - one from inside car).

David F Guajardo on Twitter

Caution (and using the feature with a clear line of sight to your car AND its surroundings) is advised.

I never said that Smart Summon was perfect.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

I never said that Smart Summon was perfect.

True. You said it was really great.

It is quite an interesting feature, for sure. But I would suggest that anyone using it do a lot of experimentation in an empty parking lot first to personally understand the limitations. Also it is a good idea to challenge it (in the same empty lot) with certain problematic scenarios. Spend a few hours with it.

Personally, even after that, I would not use this feature outside of a controlled environment - it is just too risky. Maybe someday.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Nobody said it would be hitting cars left and right...

Some concerns of amiable concern mongers such as myself were:

1) It will not behave like a human driver in crowded lots and this will cause problems.
2) It’ll drive too cautiously and be an impediment to other drivers.
3) It will have non-obvious limitations which are not known to the untrained user.
4) People will not use it as intended.

There are probably other concerns I am forgetting that were discussed.

My impression so far is that using it in a practical use case increases the risk of personal property damage, even when using as directed.

But it is cool to see it in action regardless. It is definitely a very cool toy - a life-size remote control car.

 

[emmz0r]

I mean...definitely not an apocalypse, but it is not perfect (note there are TWO tweets here - one from inside car).

David F Guajardo on Twitter

Caution (and using the feature with a clear line of sight to your car AND its surroundings) is advised.

The Tesla was likely not at fault here (it was stopped), but this accident would not likely have occurred without Smart Summon.

The Tesla had the right of way and it was kinda quick but... considering it stops for thin air and ghosts for several seconds I am surprised it didn't stop for that car earlier.

 

[alsetym]

The Tesla had the right of way and it was kinda quick but... considering it stops for thin air and ghosts for several seconds I am surprised it didn't stop for that car earlier.

Given how many accidents happen in parking lots we'll here about many more of these. The cool thing is tesla will get that information, and for every accident...and then work towards making sure they never happen again. Humans can't do that. It really can't be long until a smart summon is statistically much safer in a parking lot. Hopefully they devote some dedicated resources to smart summon to keep it improving quickly.

 

[BOBTHEJOCKEY]

Quick question about enhanced summon:

if I would sit in my car and use enhanced summon via the phone app to let my Tesla drive to a certain point, would that mean I have a self-driving vehicle?

What I mean is: can you do this or does it only work when the phone is located outside of the car?

Also: does it work anywhere or only on private roads/parking lots? I know there's a distance limit (but you'd reset the waypoint every minute) and a speed limit (so people will think you're an irresponsible 95 year old driver) but could I reach any point B from any point A this way?

(Just daydreaming looking for answers from people who have access to the function )

A little off the subject but I just read on Yahoo Finance that Waymo's market cap was 175 Billion a year ago and now it's worth 100 Billion. Tesla market cap is around 45 Billion.

 

[emmz0r]

Given how many accidents happen in parking lots we'll here about many more of these. The cool thing is tesla will get that information, and for every accident...and then work towards making sure they never happen again. Humans can't do that. It really can't be long until a smart summon is statistically much safer in a parking lot. Hopefully they devote some dedicated resources to smart summon to keep it improving quickly.

True. I hope they actually collect the data though.
Today I drove through heavy rain on AP. With my hands firmly on the wheel of course, but I felt that during the heavy rainfall that AP saw better than me. The lines were steady while I barely saw anything.

 

[turnem]

I take back what I said about Smart Summon cutting through empty parking spaces. Tesla obviously fixed that. That was a fantastic video of Smart Summon.

Thanks man. I'm going to take it out to a crowded lot later today to see how it does. I'll video that as well.

This update is by FAR the best I've had since owning my car. Enhanced Summom is the cherry on top but they improved so many other areas of auto pilot as well. I wish they'd focus more on discussing those improvements. However, I think I understand why they don't.

I'm more optimistic than ever about the future of autonomous driving now!

 

[diplomat33]

I'm more optimistic than ever about the future of autonomous driving now!

Me too.