Photo: Tesla | Edited
Tesla owners reported that Smart Summon appears to work better with the latest software updates. The software is more human-like with the latest FSD Beta iteration, showing greater confidence and quicker maneuvering.
Summon was supposed to be a nice party trick, allowing owners to "summon" their Tesla from across the parking lot. The feature was so promising that Elon Musk said in 2016 that Tesla Summon "should work anywhere connected by land and not blocked by borders." He gave it two years to achieve a coast-to-coast summon, but it never happened. Tesla owners learned quickly that Summon (and its more advanced variant Smart Summon released in 2019) was best at hitting other cars or objects and stopped using it.
Last year, Elon Musk announced that the Tesla Autopilot team was working on an improved Summon function. Musk called it Actually Smart Summon and promised it would arrive by the end of September 2022. The improved function relied on neural networks to offer better results, hence its name. As with other things Musk promised, the Actually Smart Summon (now trademarked as ASS) did not materialize.
What did happen is that people noticed Smart Summon started to work much better with the latest iterations of the FSD Beta software. Especially with V11.4.4, the Smart Summon function drives almost human-like, maneuvering around with confidence and fewer hesitations. Still, this is not the Actually Smart Summon (ASS) promised by Musk. I can confidently say that because Elon promised it again in a recent tweet, saying that ASS should be ready "probably" in 2-3 months.
Actually Smart Summon (ASS) still needs validation and a lot of testing before being released to customers. Knowing Elon Musk, the optimistic scenario would be to have it ready by this year's Holiday Update in December. Musk implied that ASS is based on FSD Beta's unified stack, which should make it much better at finding its way in a parking lot without hitting other cars. FSD Beta community report that V11.4.4 is much better than expected, showing real progress for Tesla's self-driving software.
Besides the Actually Smart Summon update, Musk also offered hope to those annoyed by Tesla Autowiper's inconsistencies. The EV maker decided against using automotive rain sensors for its automatic wipers and instead relied on cameras to determine when it was raining. If you wonder why, it's because Musk believes cameras and Tesla Vision can solve every problem like eyes and human vision do. Still, Tesla Vision struggles with rain, which causes wipers to behave erratically. Sometimes they start wiping a dry windshield in sunny weather. Otherwise, you'd beg them to start wiping in heavy rain.
Musk promised that "Actually Smart Auto Wipers" would be released in about three weeks. Although Tesla CEO doesn't explain what makes this new function "actually smart," we believe it also uses neural networks to determine whether it rains. Hopefully, the same improvements can be used to eliminate phantom braking, which appears to be caused by similar issues with Tesla Vision.
Last year, Elon Musk announced that the Tesla Autopilot team was working on an improved Summon function. Musk called it Actually Smart Summon and promised it would arrive by the end of September 2022. The improved function relied on neural networks to offer better results, hence its name. As with other things Musk promised, the Actually Smart Summon (now trademarked as ASS) did not materialize.
What did happen is that people noticed Smart Summon started to work much better with the latest iterations of the FSD Beta software. Especially with V11.4.4, the Smart Summon function drives almost human-like, maneuvering around with confidence and fewer hesitations. Still, this is not the Actually Smart Summon (ASS) promised by Musk. I can confidently say that because Elon promised it again in a recent tweet, saying that ASS should be ready "probably" in 2-3 months.
Actually Smart Summon (ASS) still needs validation and a lot of testing before being released to customers. Knowing Elon Musk, the optimistic scenario would be to have it ready by this year's Holiday Update in December. Musk implied that ASS is based on FSD Beta's unified stack, which should make it much better at finding its way in a parking lot without hitting other cars. FSD Beta community report that V11.4.4 is much better than expected, showing real progress for Tesla's self-driving software.
Besides the Actually Smart Summon update, Musk also offered hope to those annoyed by Tesla Autowiper's inconsistencies. The EV maker decided against using automotive rain sensors for its automatic wipers and instead relied on cameras to determine when it was raining. If you wonder why, it's because Musk believes cameras and Tesla Vision can solve every problem like eyes and human vision do. Still, Tesla Vision struggles with rain, which causes wipers to behave erratically. Sometimes they start wiping a dry windshield in sunny weather. Otherwise, you'd beg them to start wiping in heavy rain.
Musk promised that "Actually Smart Auto Wipers" would be released in about three weeks. Although Tesla CEO doesn't explain what makes this new function "actually smart," we believe it also uses neural networks to determine whether it rains. Hopefully, the same improvements can be used to eliminate phantom braking, which appears to be caused by similar issues with Tesla Vision.
First video report is in (thanks, Nathan!)
— Teslascope (@teslascope) June 22, 2023
This matches the overall feedback we’ve seen from others; quicker start time, with greater confidence reversing, and almost human-like delays before continuing the maneuver.
Not all experiences may match this, but looking good! @Tesla https://t.co/hogaeHmUVp
Actually smart auto wiper software releases in about 3 weeks.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 22, 2023
Our patented, “Actually Smart Summon (ASS)” is probably a month or two after that.
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