MASTER THREAD: all Smart Summon-related posts go here

[Daniel in SD]

Well, here is my experience:

Tried Smart Summon to leave my garage over the weekend, I even centered the car a bit to ensure it did not have to turn to exit and could pull out directly. I was maybe 50' away from the car and requested it to come out of the garage and down my alley to me. The car proceed to take a slight left turn (I was to the right) then drive forward a little more to left, at which point I noticed a piece of my garage trim fall to the ground. Uh-oh.

I immediately stopped and walked over to the far side of the car and realized it had grazed the side of my garage in some sort of strange maneuver, and a long and deep scratch along my rear driver's side door and rear quarter panel. Car and cameras were clean, no obstructions anywhere on the route.

Several calls and emails later, I'm filing a $5,400 insurance claim. Not happy. Never using this feature AGAIN.

I quoted the above as I put the blame entirely on myself and even took steps to ensure this wouldn't happen, yet it did and now I'm out at least my insurance deductible and perhaps some diminished value on the car as there will be a significant claim to explain to any prospective buyer. My wife cited that I agreed to beta test features like this when I bought a Tesla, and she's absolutely correct, but this has been a very painful lesson. Let it serve to a warning to others about the risks of using this feature.

I honestly don't know what I could have done differently, as I've used normal summon out of the garage a number of time before with no issue. I could have perhaps been closer, but that sort of defeats the whole purpose?

It is unfortunate that Tesla still has this image on their website that shows a situation where you should absolutely not use Smart Summon (since you can't see the side of the car near the garage opening). Several other people have had similar experiences...

 

[whatthe2]

Well, here is my experience:

Tried Smart Summon to leave my garage over the weekend, I even centered the car a bit to ensure it did not have to turn to exit and could pull out directly. I was maybe 50' away from the car and requested it to come out of the garage and down my alley to me. The car proceed to take a slight left turn (I was to the right) then drive forward a little more to left, at which point I noticed a piece of my garage trim fall to the ground. Uh-oh.

I immediately stopped and walked over to the far side of the car and realized it had grazed the side of my garage in some sort of strange maneuver, and a long and deep scratch along my rear driver's side door and rear quarter panel. Car and cameras were clean, no obstructions anywhere on the route.

Several calls and emails later, I'm filing a $5,400 insurance claim. Not happy. Never using this feature AGAIN.

I quoted the above as I put the blame entirely on myself and even took steps to ensure this wouldn't happen, yet it did and now I'm out at least my insurance deductible and perhaps some diminished value on the car as there will be a significant claim to explain to any prospective buyer. My wife cited that I agreed to beta test features like this when I bought a Tesla, and she's absolutely correct, but this has been a very painful lesson. Let it serve to a warning to others about the risks of using this feature.

I honestly don't know what I could have done differently, as I've used normal summon out of the garage a number of time before with no issue. I could have perhaps been closer, but that sort of defeats the whole purpose?

Did you happen to save the video of it? I’d be curious to see how it hit the garage. Just curious if it’s a sudden maneuver or a slow angle toward it.
But sorry for your damage.

 

[c041v]

I do have a clip from my garage camera, but it doesn't show the part of the car that hit, only an overhead view from the wrong side.

It appears as though the car pulled forward while slightly turning left, backed up once, then again, and then turned further left while pulling out again, at which point it contacted the garage, knocking the trim piece off, which alerted me to the fact that something had not gone right.

Not sure how to upload the 30 second clip, but it does show the confused set of maneuvers the car was making.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Not sure how to upload the 30 second clip, but it does show the confused set of maneuvers the car was making.

You can upload it to another video sharing site (YouTube or whatever) and then link to it/embed it here.

Definitely Smart Summon is not something you ever want to attempt using in an enclosed space, ever. Not clear whether that will ever be possible.

From your original description it sounds like you could see the car maneuvering? Why did you continue to Summon it when it started backing up? Or were you around a corner?

 

[c041v]

I was about 50’ away from the car and could easily see it, but I could not see how close it was to the edge of my garage. From that distance, hard to judge and again, my mistake for not having tried it from maybe a few feet away to see what it would do under the new software. Having summoned it it previously with the lesser version of Summon, I wasn’t expecting it to perform the maneuvers it did.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

I was about 50’ away from the car and could easily see it, but I could not see how close it was to the edge of my garage. From that distance, hard to judge and again, my mistake for not having tried it from maybe a few feet away to see what it would do under the new software. Having summoned it it previously with the lesser version of Summon, I wasn’t expecting it to perform the maneuvers it did.

As far as I can tell it is not designed for use in garages or areas with any obstacles nearby.

 

[Trevlan006]

But why did you use it in a garage, it cannot see small things like the trim etc. if it was two cars next to each other , would be a different story. When I do use it I am always right there watching and , many times I did have to stop it.

I am sorry to hear about the damages

 

[c041v]

Let's be clear, I am trying to indicate a situation in which I felt Smart Summon was an appropriate usage, the EXACT example of which is shown on the image that someone posted from Tesla's website above. This isn't some unusual case where I was trying to challenge the car to do something I thought it was marginally capable of accomplishing. I also mentioned that I had previously performed this maneuver many times before with the non-Smart version of Summon with no issues.

The "trim" I'm referring to is actually the edge of my garage door opening. The trim is flush with the opening itself, which is the actual edge of the structure. There should be virtually no difference in terms of the edge of my garage or an adjacent vehicle. They are both opaque vertical surfaces. The ultrasonic sensors pick up the limits of my garage very well when I back in every day. I don't know why the car didn't understand its proximity to the edge of the structure other than that it may have been

I am not denying responsibility in any way. It took a lot for me to actually admit this failure and post it here, considering the personal expense and hit to my ego, and potentially questionable use of this feature. There's an easy argument for more due diligence that could have been done. I still have unwavering support for this company, but not this feature based on my anecdotal experience.

In my opinion, if the car can't recognize an opaque wall, it should not have been released. YMMV.

 

[c041v]

Sorry, I left an incomplete thought:

I don't know why the car didn't understand its proximity to the edge of the structure other than that it may have been between the front and rear ultrasonic sensors and unaware of the fact that it had turned too close. I thought the ultrasonic sensors provide a 360 field of view though?

 

[Th3RoguePotato]

Sorry, I left an incomplete thought:

I thought the ultrasonic sensors provide a 360 field of view though?

There are no ultrasonic's on the sides where the doors are, they end on the sides on the bumper. If you're looking around the car you can see the small body colored circles which are the sensors.

 

[madrox17]

Has anyone else noticed that since 2019.36.2.1 that Smart Summon displays the car as facing the wrong way when you go to summon it?

Mine has started doing this since the update, and it's started going the wrong way towards the snow bank in the grass behind the parking spot at work. I quickly let go, Dumb Summoned it the correct direction a few feet, then tried Smart Summon again and it worked fine.

I never observed this once in dozens of Smart Summons before the latest update, now it's almost every time...

 

[hari-bhari]

Is this available on hw 2.5? I am just showing the regular summon feature and I’m on software v10. Jan 2018 EAP with FSD.

 

[McFlurri]

Is this available on hw 2.5? I am just showing the regular summon feature and I’m on software v10. Jan 2018 EAP with FSD.

Yup. I have HW 2.5 and Smart Summon is available

 

[jeniferkey]

Has anyone else noticed that since 2019.36.2.1 that Smart Summon displays the car as facing the wrong way when you go to summon it?

Mine has started doing this since the update, and it's started going the wrong way towards the snow bank in the grass behind the parking spot at work. I quickly let go, Dumb Summoned it the correct direction a few feet, then tried Smart Summon again and it worked fine.

I never observed this once in dozens of Smart Summons before the latest update, now it's almost every time...

I have the same problem at my office. It shows it pointing the wrong way and it turns the opposite direction due to this. I'll have to try the dumb summon to see if that helps correct it. First I tried it using the summon to location as opposed to come to me. But for both it had the car pointing the wrong way and it would then turn as if it was facing the direction shown in the app. I do plan to do a reboot of the car the next time I'm in it to see if that helps. It did seem to start after the latest update.

 

[cabbie]

I love smart summon but it does not work on public streets which includes named roads in parking lots. My car was summoned from its parking spot and made it down the aisle and should have turned right into another aisle but it stopped. When i looked at the map the aisle
turned out to be a named street even though it was in a mall parking lot. Smart summon is still a work in progress and the more owners use it the better Tesla can make it.

 

[Trevlan006]

It made it through the drivethru without hitting the curbs.

 

[Trevlan006]

I cannot find that photo only this one.
the guy is right in front of his garage and pulling the car out straight.

It is unfortunate that Tesla still has this image on their website that shows a situation where you should absolutely not use Smart Summon (since you can't see the side of the car near the garage opening). Several other people have had similar experiences...
View attachment 478901

 

[Daniel in SD]

I cannot find that photo only this one.
the guy is right in front of his garage and pulling the car out straight.

Autopilot
The person in the graphic can’t even see the garage. I guess they can technically see the car...

 

[Fredneck]

Sorry, I left an incomplete thought:

I don't know why the car didn't understand its proximity to the edge of the structure other than that it may have been between the front and rear ultrasonic sensors and unaware of the fact that it had turned too close. I thought the ultrasonic sensors provide a 360 field of view though?

It shouldn't have to "see" the object at all times unless it moves. Once it detects an object, it knows where all parts of the car are, so it should not put any part of itself too close to where the object was when detected. Isn't that summon mode 101?

A Supercharger near me has pedestals at the entrance to the parking spot rather than at the rear. It's in a parking garage, so tight to begin with. Take away the foot or more of space and it makes pulling in hard and backing out even harder. Alarms sound for three places at once! I really just have to ignore them, especially since the visualization is not visible behind the steering wheel and it's just too hard to see the different approaching points all at once.

This is an example of a Tesla fail while other car companies put the indicators at locations where the indicator is closer to the point in question, like on the rear view mirror. I haven't driven a car like that in a similar situation, so it might not work any better. I'm pretty sure the Tesla way of putting all info right in front of you is worse when changing lanes and an alarm goes off. I have to take my eyes off the road and off the mirrors to see where the imminent collision is coming from. In other words, it does nothing other than telling me to prepare for a crash.

Sometimes I miss my Chevy II. From the driver's seat I could literally see 360 degrees around that car. With an electric motor it would be a real hot rod!

 

[Trevlan006]

Although it “failed” it was because I did not point the direction correctly due to not seeing the canopy. You will understand. Otherwise the car went directly through the path.

Check it out