Tesla Is Finally Updating Its Autopark Feature by The End of This Month

Elon Musk has just announced on Twitter that the Autopilot/AI team at Tesla will be working on Tesla's Smart Summon and Autopark features, as well as its humanoid robot, Optimus.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1572090491050799107

Autopilot is widely used by many Tesla owners worldwide while Autopark and Smart Summon are much lesser-used, due to being "too slow" or "won't detect a parking spot," among other issues. As more car manufacturers are making their own "autopark" systems, many parking features that Autopark lacks such as 360 camera view and better angling for parking are on the road right now. In order to compete with this, Tesla is eager to update their own Autopark system, and it is promising to know that there is a hard deadline for an update by the end of this month. Autopark would certainly be useful for tasks such as backing into parking spaces at Superchargers, and if Tesla has been focusing on it as much as they have on FSD Beta, it may change significantly how many owners decide to use it regularly.

Tesla's AI Day 2022 is at the end of this month, so the new Autopark, Smart Summon, and Tesla Bot progress/features will most likely be announced then.

(Featured Image Courtesy of Tesla, Inc)

 

[2101Guy]

He didn’t say which month and he didn’t say “I promise”

 

[ElectricCanuck]

Both are completely unusable to me - Summon won't go into my garage, even with systems set for 'tight' and autopark is so slow, and it turns the wheel with the car stopped, which drives me nuts.

 

[mswlogo]

Deadline to what? A design, more betas, employees only? Public polished production code? Doubtful.

 

[SalisburySam]

Elon Musk has just announced on Twitter that the Autopilot/AI team at Tesla will be working on Tesla's Smart Summon and Autopark features, as well as its humanoid robot, Optimus.

Great, very exciting, can hardly contain myself.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1572090491050799107

Autopilot is widely used by many Tesla owners worldwide while Autopark and Smart Summon are much lesser-used, due to being "too slow" or "won't detect a parking spot," among other issues. As more car manufacturers are making their own "autopark" systems, many parking features that Autopark lacks such as 360 camera view and better angling for parking are on the road right now.

Er, yup.

In order to compete with this, Tesla is eager to update their own Autopark system,

Doubtful. Tesla is “eager” to deliver robotaxis, little else.

and it is promising to know that there is a hard deadline for an update by the end of this month.

Really? Just because Elon says something the team is working on has an end of month deadline means nothing.

Autopark would certainly be useful for tasks such as backing into parking spaces at Superchargers, and if Tesla has been focusing on it as much as they have on FSD Beta, it may change significantly how many owners decide to use it regularly.

Absolutely. Could go from bad parlor trick to very useful feature, as it has on other vehicles.

Tesla's AI Day 2022 is at the end of this month, so the new Autopark, Smart Summon, and Tesla Bot progress/features will most likely be announced then.

View attachment 854591
(Featured Image Courtesy of Tesla, Inc)

“Announcement” rarely equals “Delivery.” See Apple, etc.

Given you have to back into most Supercharger spaces, and US drivers’ general avoidance of backing into anything, I would have expected AutoPark to have been a very-early-delivered function with solid accuracy, speed, and reliability. Instead AutoPark has been that weak parlor trick perhaps now getting some Tesla attention. I hope it improves significantly as it still could be one of the more useful automatic functions, and potential add a whole lot of convenience and even safety. But that’s not the case today, at least not in my Model 3.

 

[diplomat33]

I welcome the news that Tesla is working on a better smart summon and a better Auto Park. Those features definitely need some attention. I will be very happy when those features are improved. However, we should remember that it will take time. I highly doubt that the end of month deadline is for a finished, polished version that goes out to everybody. More likely the deadline is just to finish the alpha version where the team can then move on to beta testing. My guess is they will miss their deadline. Eventually, we will get some limited beta testing that will go to the youtube influencers first. Then maybe 2 months later, it will go to beta testing to the wider FSD beta group.

 

[2101Guy]

I was about to say…when did ANYONE start believing ANY timelines announced by Elon

 

[diplomat33]

By the way, it's been awhile so I don't remember. But wasn't smart summon delayed a lot before it eventually got released wide? I seem to remember seeing youtube videos of smart summon in limited beta testing and then it got recalled, more testing and it took months before it actually got released wide and it was still "beta" when it was released wide.

 

[TomT]

I welcome the news that Tesla is working on a better smart summon and a better Auto Park. Those features definitely need some attention.

It's ironic. Our 2013 vehicle has an autopark system that always works flawlessly and is magnitudes better than the one in my 2022 Tesla... The one in the Tesla is so bad that I never use it.

 

[Tam]

It's ironic. Our 2013 vehicle has an autopark system that always works flawlessly and is magnitudes better than the one in my 2022 Tesla... The one in the Tesla is so bad that I never use it.

It sounds like the technology is already available but not for the Tesla software team.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

It's ironic. Our 2013 vehicle has an autopark system that always works flawlessly and is magnitudes better than the one in my 2022 Tesla... The one in the Tesla is so bad that I never use it.

It's one of those yes and nos. Tesla's approach is more general, and that is harder.

But anyway, it's just more Missourelon. It'll be ready next month, so buy FSD now! Don't look at the calendar! That's irrelevant!

Aside:
Our 2013 vehicle has charge scheduling, where you can separately enter hours of the day that are off-peak, peak and shoulder for weekdays, weekend and choose whether to have separate entries for summer and winter. Then when you tell it how to charge it can apply that schedule. The feature was actually introduced in the 2011 model.
That was a PHEV. They used that same feature when they introduced their BEV. I mean, I'd have thought it would be obvious to manufacturers to cover the broad variations in TOU, but apparently not.

Our 2020 Kona Electric has a single time-period you can set as off-peak and the implementation makes me think they just kind of half-assed it.
Tesla had a fixed off-peak period that by amazing coincidence match California's super off-peak. Not even half-assed.

 

[CyberB]

I thought the summon, autopark and NOA would be updated with FSD V11 when they go on single stack? Given how much progress they made on FSD, I would think porting that code for simple summon or parking would be relatively easy, as they are essentially part of FSD function. FSD is dodging moving cars at high speed, parking/summon is dodging mostly stationary objects at low speed.

 

[AndrewZ]

Are the self-parking functions any better on early AP1 vehicles?

I'd bet most if not all self-parking features in the Auto industry are Mobileye's, so this could be something that was cut when Tesla and Mobileye split and Tesla has just never built back what was lost. Earlier vehicles doing better could add credence to that theory.

Would also think these low-speed maneuvers would be easy for FSD but it might be more difficult than you think with the way motion is used by these systems in object identification etc and static objects being more problematic than things in motion themselves

 

[Mardak]

parking/summon is dodging mostly stationary objects at low speed

The occupancy network received major upgrades as part of 10.69, and while driving around in parking lots is still a bit wonky, it does much better in avoiding shopping carts, shipping pallets and random other stuff in drivable space that are more common in parking lots. It wouldn't be surprising if some of the push for the occupancy network was indeed to get single stack for smart park/summon working more reliably / "actually smart."

 

[Mark II]

I guess Elon must have seen the video discussed here:

Self parking competition: Audi Vs Tesla

teslamotorsclub.com

Really highlights just how far behind Tesla is when it comes to basic autonomy.

 

[brkaus]

Perhaps an Optimus will hop out of the trunk and guide the car in…

 

[KArnold]

Just because Elon says something the team is working on has an end of month deadline means nothing.

Fixed that. YW!

 

[MYLRToon]

My old 135i had far superior autopark then the MY. The tesla autopark is slow and dimwitted. A question though does it use any ultrasonic sensors or it all via tesla vision?

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

We find Autopark works fine, when it works.

Always try to use it at Superchargers, but it only comes up as an option about a third of the time.

Definitely needs an update.

Does anyone really use Smart Summon?

 

[brkaus]

Does anyone really use Smart Summon?

Yes. For sure. Once.