Tesla will enhance self-parking and summon’s functionality, says Elon Musk
Elon Musk has hinted that Tesla is working on an upgraded version of the software, where in the car can drop passengers off at their destination and find a parking spot autonomously and when the passengers are ready to leave and require the car, they can simply summon the vehicle back with a phone.
New Delhi: Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has said that the company will soon enable their cars to drop passengers off at their destination and find a parking spot autonomously. When the passengers are ready to leave and require the car, they can simply summon the vehicle back with a phone.
Tesla already has a partial version of both the Autopark and Smart Summon functions. At present, the Autopark system allows the vehicle to automatically parallel or perpendicular park under certain conditions, with Summon enabling the owner to move their car forward or backwards from parking positions through the Tesla app.
Smart Summon, though, is going to take a step ahead and means the car could navigate a short distance in a parking lot to reach the owners.
Of course, there are many limitations in such systems and generally work in certain defined environments like private parking lots and driveways and need clean line markings and might get inconsistent with obstacle detection. In fact, a long time ago, Volvo had fiddled with the auto parking and summon system, but had ultimately not made too much progress in it.
Musk’s recent Tweet does say that there will be a much more advanced version of these systems that can fully go for autonomous navigation and tackle going from drop-off location to parking spot and then come back to collect. Tesla could be the first carmaker to implement widespread self-parking capacity in practical settings, which would be a big step from the existing semi-autonomous systems.
Tesla’s full self-driving software is still under development and limited by regulatory approvals, is likely to form the main element of this feature eventually. The brand has been testing ‘Actual Smart Summon’, which is an upgraded version of the Smart Summon, in certain markets with software beta releases.
Carmakers including Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Hyundai have been developing automated parking systems integrated with advanced driver assistance suites. Mercedes comes with Level 4-ready automated parking in parts of Germany, but widespread use is limited by regulations. Then there is California, where Jaguar-operated robotaxis are quite famous, though at times notorious with incidents, but overall great success.