Summon in Australia

[Astroboy747]

It’s listed as Remote S for Tesla. I tried Summon with Remote S and it returned an error stating “Command failed - unavailable”


Looking at the car while Summon is in progress, it’s obviously making some fairly rigorous steering adjustments so while it’s probably not going to negotiate a curved driveway yet, it seems to be lining the car up for an optimal pathway into the garage. Regardless, my driveway is so narrow and the Model S is such a behemoth that I’m still going to have to demolish & rebuild a low garden wall to get it inside the garage.


ZTrekus - I totally agree - I was about to say much the same.

Just finished emailing the developer. He says because we don't have the in car setting to turn off "Continuous Press", his app won't work. That is due to the extra restrictions placed on Summon in Australia. It is a great app, faster and more detailed than the official Tesla app. Allows Summon without you being anywhere near the car. Also has Apple Watch integration which works brilliantly.

But once he finds out how to make it work, he will update his app.

I agree with all of your comments regarding improvements to Summon. Ideally, we really need it to just work directly off the key fob without the phone. Of course it can still be an option. But it takes so long to try and open the app, then establish connection with the car then like said above when you loose a connection it is really annoying. It would be perfectly safe with the key fob, a direct connection to the car, no lag. Just make it that the button needs to be continuously held down.

Nevertheless, we are all very appreciative that Tesla has rolled out this feature to us. I remember the negative comments we all had when it originally came out in the US and not here. Kudos to Tesla. On a side note, my steering alignment was off in my car. I emailed Tesla Support and they replied within 5 minutes and put me on to a technician in Sydney. He has since helped resolve the issue by suggesting a wheel and steering alignment but I thought wow you cannot get this support anywhere else. They gave me his direct mobile and I can contact him at any time. I've been waiting two weeks for Logitech to get back to me on fixing a set of brand new headphones I bought off them.

 

[paulp]

A SUGGESTION TO IMPROVE SUMMONS IN THE NEXT UPDATE - IN AUSTRALIA


I have now used this feature extensively and I really love it. I use it at home and at work and I find it indispensable. There are a few teething problems though. A major one is a connection issue between the phone, the key fob and the car all acting simultaneously. I presume this has been requested by the Australian authorities, because if the car was put in summons mode directly from a double click of the park-brake (like the US) or directly from the key fob alone (like the US) then perhaps it is too easy to let the car run away with itself or in the case of the fob, for a child to move the car. Well whatever the reason, the current version needs:

1. The fob to be within communication distance to the car; and
2. The phone to be within 3m of the car; and
3. The person to hold down the forward or reverse on the phone.

All that is well and good, but the moment there is a break in the signal, the thing aborts. And when it aborts, it goes through a cancellation procedure (which takes a good minute) and then when you re-connect, it takes another minute to start-up again. That can be terribly frustrating when the car is left jutting out of the spot.

So presuming you have to have all three in use to satisfy the Aussie powers, I would suggest the following:

1. The phone be within 3 m of the car; and
2. Use the phone to initiate or unlock the summons feature (ie an initial activation) - this can stay active for say 30 seconds or so (even if there is a subsequent internet break in the signal); and
3. Then use the key fob (instead of the phone) to hold down the move forward or backwards motion like the US.

That way - any short term break in the internet 3G signal would not be a problem MID-MANOEUVRE....and you can still stop the car in the event of emergency in the same way - ie let go of the fob!

I hope someone at Tesla is actively feeling out the implementation in Australia (insofar as it differs from the US) and can actively update the feature. For my part, I think it would be a vast improvement.

What do you guys reckon??

The connection issue makes it borderline unusable. I'm hoping it will work in a few days when the tesla servers arent so busy on uploads. I'm also a little bit concerned that its stopping at what is an obstruction, which is essentially the operator within 3 meters.
I think I spent 15 minutes earlier today moving my car 2 metres. I have poor 3G but great wifi at home, and perfect 3g but no wifi in the office. Both locations performed the same.
Fantastic to have the feature, and I have every confidence that tesla will improve on it for us. They have to start somewhere. Maybe its like AP and needs some learning?

 

[WhiteStar]

The connection issue makes it borderline unusable. I'm hoping it will work in a few days when the tesla servers arent so busy on uploads. I'm also a little bit concerned that its stopping at what is an obstruction, which is essentially the operator within 3 meters.
I think I spent 15 minutes earlier today moving my car 2 metres. I have poor 3G but great wifi at home, and perfect 3g but no wifi in the office. Both locations performed the same.
Fantastic to have the feature, and I have every confidence that tesla will improve on it for us. They have to start somewhere. Maybe its like AP and needs some learning?

Interesting. I agree, the connectivity issues make it feel sub-optimal. The more I think about it, this could be an example of over-nanny-fication which has the exact diametric opposite consequences to those that are desired i.e. the nerfed Australian Summon implementation is less safe than the US version because lifting your finger off the app button is not immediate like it is with the fob.

 

[cynix]

My suggestion is to use wifi for the phone to communicate with the car, not Internet or phone. That way it will work even deep underground in a car park.

Or even better, use Bluetooth. Our phones already pair with the car over BT for phone calls etc anyway, it should also use BT for unlocking the car and Summon.

 

[danielp]

I agree that improvement needs to be made; and I'll add that tesla has consistently delivered improvements to make many features pretty much perfect as they receive feedback.

 

[paulp]

I agree that improvement needs to be made; and I'll add that tesla has consistently delivered improvements to make many features pretty much perfect as they receive feedback.

Agree with you on that. Its a beta, so I think tesla expect feedback and expect that it isnt yet ideal or fully tested.

 

[Patrick Chye]

I tried summons this morning and afternoon and I found a problem with it and my garage. I have a small lip on the entry to the garage and it seems that the car won't get over it. Must have tried 10 times and only once did it get over. But that was lucky as the car doesn't see to want to get over this lip anymore - wondering if you guys had any experience in this. I am thinking of a micro ramp to the lip. Video attached.

- - - Updated - - -

I also tried doing a run-up to the garage but the car slows down just around that area where it detects the sides. But no go as the same result

 

[ZTrekus]

I tried summons this morning and afternoon and I found a problem with it and my garage. I have a small lip on the entry to the garage and it seems that the car won't get over it. Must have tried 10 times and only once did it get over. But that was lucky as the car doesn't see to want to get over this lip anymore - wondering if you guys had any experience in this. I am thinking of a micro ramp to the lip. Video attached.

- - - Updated - - -

I also tried doing a run-up to the garage but the car slows down just around that area where it detects the sides. But no go as the same result

I can't seem to watch that video for some reason...

I too have a similar drain and I notice that the car slows down a lot when the wheel hits it, but it has always managed to get over it... I guess you can replace that area of the drain with a flatter cover? Wood maybe?

 

[meloccom]

Summon installed last night for me and I got a couple of opportunities to try it today.
The first was an open air car park with full 3G reception. It took a while to get it to work and it complained that it could not detect the key fob even though I was standing next to the car with the fob in my pocket and phone in my hand. I had to take the fob out of my pocket and with phone in one hand and fob in the other it worked and I extracted my car from a parking spot.
With the experience I tried again in my basement garage. Unfortunately there is no 3G signal around my parking spot but I am able to get signal near a vent about 6 meters away. So thinking latterly I placed the fob on the bonnet and controlled the car over by the vent and it works better there with 2 bars than with 5 bars in the open air car park. So I don't know what the requirement to have the fob nearby does for safety.

 

[Dborn]

Meloccom, similar problem to what I experienced. I wonder which protocol the phone comm is. Wifi, Bluetooth or 3G internet. Ideally it should be direct to car.

 

[raynewman]

Meloccom, similar problem to what I experienced. I wonder which protocol the phone comm is. Wifi, Bluetooth or 3G internet. Ideally it should be direct to car.

I don't think 'direct to the car' will happen. Currently, the car only talks via VPN to the mothership. Any other form of comms introduces a huge security hole and the last thin you need is for someone else to summon your car.

 

[EcoCloudIT]

Maybe an initial handshake then? There is certainly direct communication between the car and the FOB to open the car and drive it.

-ECIT

 

[mccrum]

Despite summon not being perfect (its is Beta) Tesla Australia really are to congratulated on getting this result. I could imagine a lot of other organisations would be happy with just saying its an Australia law that stops us giving you extra functionality. In the scheme of things Australia is a small market and Tesla have customized (with I guess some cost) their offering to suit us. I think will get better and its a sign that Tesla are serious about the Australian market.

 

[WhiteStar]

I was moving the car along the driveway today, lifted my finger off the Forward button but the car kept going. For 5 seconds. Whatever the cause, switching between WiFi & 3G or something else, obviously this has not been thought through properly.

I realise I could've pressed the fob or door handle to stop it but wanted to see how far it would go...quite a few metres as it turns out. Of course it stopped before the wall but could be a real worry if something small is not detected by the sensors.

 

[AndrewNSW]

I was moving the car along the driveway today, lifted my finger off the Forward button but the car kept going. For 5 seconds. Whatever the cause, switching between WiFi & 3G or something else, obviously this has not been thought through properly.

I realise I could've pressed the fob or door handle to stop it but wanted to see how far it would go...quite a few metres as it turns out. Of course it stopped before the wall but could be a real worry if something small is not detected by the sensors.

Yes same thing happened to me in my limited testing - enough time to do some possible damage. So I'm assuming the car doesn't actually move the steering wheel at all under Summon? - just back or forwards and if it sees an obstacle (e.g Wall) it obviously can't go forward and turn slightly then back to move the car away from it so just stops?

 

[sjwbne]

Yes same thing happened to me in my limited testing - enough time to do some possible damage. So I'm assuming the car doesn't actually move the steering wheel at all under Summon? - just back or forwards and if it sees an obstacle (e.g Wall) it obviously can't go forward and turn slightly then back to move the car away from it so just stops?

It seems to move the steering wheel to some extent. When I summon forward to go into my garage I leave the car on an intial angle that, if maintained, would see the car hitting the side wall. It straightens up itself as it rolls forward. Similar thing in reverse.

 

[WhiteStar]

Yes same thing happened to me in my limited testing - enough time to do some possible damage. So I'm assuming the car doesn't actually move the steering wheel at all under Summon? - just back or forwards and if it sees an obstacle (e.g Wall) it obviously can't go forward and turn slightly then back to move the car away from it so just stops?

I’ve noticed a whole lot of steering going on. My driveway is level but is cobblestone and quite uneven. I guess that might explain the quite dramatic steering I’m seeing or it could be that it’s also narrow and always lining up the best way forward or back.

 

[TesAus]

Yes seems to steer a reasonable amount. I think in my case it is because it comes close to the edge of the garage door pillar, but beyond that there is a fair bit of open space and a vehicle on the other side. It therefore is going from avoiding the pillar to avoiding the other car.

 

[raynewman]

Totally underwhelmed!

Came out of the park OK.

Pushed <Reverse> to get it to park back where it just came from (about a metre either side spare), it tried to ram one of the cars and wouldn't go (tried twice then gave up).

 

[paulp]

Mine failed to work (again) yesterday, then set the alarm off when I got in the car. Problem is nothing would turn the alarm off until the damn summon reset itself.