Enhanced Summon, where are you?

[diplomat33]

I got this message on my account during my 60 day trial period after taking delivery of my MX100D... $4300 for AP, or $15700 for EAP.

Not sure its an error as the current Tesla website states that the Summon is not ready until later this yr.

No, what you got is the same as what is on the website. Smart Summon is advertised on the website as available now even though it is still in early access.

 

[EVNow]

However let’s look at the risk scenario I had in mind. If Tesla’s cash-generation turnaround doesn’t happen and they continue to bleed actual dollars in the bank then recognizing the revenue can become secondary and money in the bank can become primary until the turnaround happens because those dollars in the bank can be used for more important things like making cars to sell.

That is correct. We'll know in a month - though various leaks seem to point to a good quarter.

 

[samstair]

I parked across from a Daycare yesterday and even little kids where saying "Look a Tesla!" I opened the gull wing doors for some Wows, and the simple back and forth Summon simply blew their minds! Everyone I have ever shown the basic back and forth movement was in utter amazement. I'm not a car guy, I never had any interest in Cars. I bought a Tesla because of the Cool factors, the tech, the science fiction of it.

 

[diplomat33]

At the shareholder meeting today, Elon was asked about his tweets months ago that said Smart Summon was "next week". Elon admitted that he tends to be on the optimistic side. He said that Smart Summon is in Early Access and Tesla is still making improvements. He described Smart Summon as "close to being magical" and "close to being amazing". He also admitted that parking lots have been more difficult to solve than previously thought. Wide release will be "fairly soon". Drew and Elon then added that they are taking longer because ultimately they want it to be safe. Elon also said that the trick is finding that sweet spot because if they make Smart Summon too aggressive, it could be dangerous but if they make it too sensitive, the car will be paralyzed with indecisiveness and won't move. He said the metric is "is it more useful to summon the car or just walk to your car because if it is the latter then the feature is not useful."

 

[iTech]

At the shareholder meeting today, Elon was asked about his tweets months ago that said Smart Summon was "next week". Elon admitted that he tends to be on the optimistic side. He said that Smart Summon is in Early Access and Tesla is still making improvements. He described Smart Summon as "close to being magical" and "close to being amazing". He also admitted that parking lots have been more difficult to solve than previously thought. Wide release will be "fairly soon". Drew and Elon then added that they are taking longer because ultimately they want it to be safe. Elon also said that the trick is finding that sweet spot because if they make Smart Summon too aggressive, it could be dangerous but if they make it too sensitive, the car will be paralyzed with indecisiveness and won't move. He said the metric is "is it more useful to summon the car or just walk to your car because if it is the latter then the feature is not useful."

So nothing new then.

 

[TMeister]

At the shareholder meeting today, Elon was asked about his tweets months ago that said Smart Summon was "next week". Elon admitted that he tends to be on the optimistic side. He said that Smart Summon is in Early Access and Tesla is still making improvements. He described Smart Summon as "close to being magical" and "close to being amazing". He also admitted that parking lots have been more difficult to solve than previously thought. Wide release will be "fairly soon". Drew and Elon then added that they are taking longer because ultimately they want it to be safe. Elon also said that the trick is finding that sweet spot because if they make Smart Summon too aggressive, it could be dangerous but if they make it too sensitive, the car will be paralyzed with indecisiveness and won't move. He said the metric is "is it more useful to summon the car or just walk to your car because if it is the latter then the feature is not useful."

I'm gonna say that the trick metric is too far to the paralyzed mode right now. And the metric quote at the end is spot on. I'll be walking to my car unless some HUGE improvement is made.

 

[electronblue]

At the shareholder meeting today, Elon was asked about his tweets months ago that said Smart Summon was "next week". Elon admitted that he tends to be on the optimistic side. He said that Smart Summon is in Early Access and Tesla is still making improvements. He described Smart Summon as "close to being magical" and "close to being amazing". He also admitted that parking lots have been more difficult to solve than previously thought. Wide release will be "fairly soon". Drew and Elon then added that they are taking longer because ultimately they want it to be safe. Elon also said that the trick is finding that sweet spot because if they make Smart Summon too aggressive, it could be dangerous but if they make it too sensitive, the car will be paralyzed with indecisiveness and won't move. He said the metric is "is it more useful to summon the car or just walk to your car because if it is the latter then the feature is not useful."

My guess is their biggest problem is: They don’t have a fully reliable 3D view of the world yet and without parking cameras that is bound to be tricky too in parking lots. So they can’t fully rely on what their sensors say is or isn’t there and how far, they must be extra careful because of that...

And that has been the story of Autopilot 2 of course from the start.

 

[banned-66611]

Why does he keep making these ridiculous promises and statements when they so often turn out to be false?

 

[electronblue]

Why does he keep making these ridiculous promises and statements when they so often turn out to be false?

Because it buys him time and publicity? I mean who would have bought an AP2 car had Tesla been honest in 2016.

 

[rowdy]

Does anyone else think that parking lots is actually a harder problem to solve than driving on the roads? To me there are a lot more variables.

Also need to consider that if the car gets it wrong and a pedestrian gets killed it will force regulators to act. There'll be no more unattended driving for HW3 teslas.

You kinda want Summon to be the very last FSD feature you activate (after the neural net is fully trained).

 

[Daniel in SD]

Does anyone else think that parking lots is actually a harder problem to solve than driving on the roads? To me there are a lot more variables.

Also need to consider that if the car gets it wrong and a pedestrian gets killed it will force regulators to act. There'll be no more unattended driving for HW3 teslas.

You kinda want Summon to be the very last FSD feature you activate (after the neural net is fully trained).

Yes, it's probably just as difficult. However the speeds are very low so it should be possible to just not run into anything.
The scenario I'm worried about is a kid or stroller right next to a front wheel. Will that be picked up by the pillar side cameras and will the NN be able to recognize it?

 

[diplomat33]

Does anyone else think that parking lots is actually a harder problem to solve than driving on the roads? To me there are a lot more variables.

I think a key difference is that path finding on roads is more obvious and clear. You have clear lane lines, you have a clear flow of traffic. Cars in a particular lane all move together in one direction, and all cars in another lane all move together in a different direction. And cars are supposed to stay in their lane unless they are changing lanes. Parking lots are different. They are no lane lines. The direction of travel is not always obvious. Some parking lots have arrows on the ground but not all and they are usually at the beginning of the aisle. Plus, there will be pedestrians moving about randomly. And the cars needs to know not to drive across parking space lines too. and what happens when you drive down an aisle and come face to face with a car moving in the wrong direction? Or you are moving down an aisle when a nearby parked car is pulling out?

So I think parking lots are more difficult.

 

[TMeister]

I think a key difference is that path finding on roads is more obvious and clear. You have clear lane lines, you have a clear flow of traffic. Cars in a particular lane all move together in one direction, and all cars in another lane all move together in a different direction. And cars are supposed to stay in their lane unless they are changing lanes. Parking lots are different. They are no lane lines. The direction of travel is not always obvious. Some parking lots have arrows on the ground but not all and they are usually at the beginning of the aisle. Plus, there will be pedestrians moving about randomly. And the cars needs to know not to drive across parking space lines too. and what happens when you drive down an aisle and come face to face with a car moving in the wrong direction? Or you are moving down an aisle when a nearby parked car is pulling out?

So I think parking lots are more difficult.

All good points and why it still doesn't work any better than the first iteration for early access owners. I've seen the videos. The 2019.20.0.1 release still only goes 3 MPH, makes lock to lock steering changes while sitting still and doesn't hit the pin mark anyway. It's way faster to just walk to the car and get it since you have to be within 150 ft right now. I just can't see any time soon that you will be able to get the car to come to you from anyplace you can't observe. It's just that bad right now (from the videos, which are kinda funny to watch).

 

[electronblue]

I think there are more serious reasons to why it is hard.

One is that without proper parking cameras Teslas do not have sensors that are optimized to navigating close-by markings and curbs such as those on parking lots. Ultrasonics miss certain types of poles and metal structures easily and require very slow speeds to operate so they are a bit poor backups in this sense too. The rest of the cameras are no way optimized to see parking area markings (with the possible exception of the rear-view one).

Secondly Tesla still seems to lack — judging by @verygreen produced insights — reliable vision NNs to assess the surroundings and distances without glitches and misses, making extra care double the need.

I would guess these are probably bigger obstacles in launching Smart Summon than any logic in the actual driving policy for the car in the parking lot (given the limited type of driving Smart Summon does anyway).

 

[EVNow]

Why does he keep making these ridiculous promises and statements when they so often turn out to be false?

Because he's overly optimistic. A realist would have never started an EV company.

 

[electronblue]

Because he's overly optimistic. A realist would have never started an EV company.

My guess is he makes them because it gets Tesla publicity and helps sell cars.

 

[EVNow]

My guess is he makes them because it gets Tesla publicity and helps sell cars.

I suggest going through some of Musk's tweets. You may get a different perspective.

I don't wear rose colored glasses - so I definitely think some of what Tesla hypes is to drive sales. But there is another aspect as well. Musk has seen so many incredible things happen in his own life, he thinks if he works hard enough / pushes people hard enough, things will happen. Its not just him, Gates, Jobs and others used to think the same way as well. Only difference is their public personas were very different from they interacted with people within the company.

 

[electronblue]

I suggest going through some of Musk's tweets. You may get a different perspective.

I don't wear rose colored glasses - so I definitely think some of what Tesla hypes is to drive sales. But there is another aspect as well. Musk has seen so many incredible things happen in his own life, he thinks if he works hard enough / pushes people hard enough, things will happen. Its not just him, Gates, Jobs and others used to think the same way as well. Only difference is their public personas were very different from they interacted with people within the company.

I have. For me it was the Boring Company launch... the ever so casual way he went about it in a tweet, and clearly in hindsight in such a calculated way... that really eventually drove home to me how he markets using Twitter. And I believe I have seen it so many times, now that I am aware of it.

My speculation is Musk says the darnest things on Twitter — many times overly optimistic things — because it makes marketing sense for him to do so. Of course the abundance of misses has lessened the impact a little, but nowhere near taken the impact away.

 

[croman]

New firmware is out. I wonder what they improved...

2019.20.2.5 1b3afd1

 

[electronblue]

New firmware is out. I wonder what they improved...

Or made worse.