Despite just being released a few weeks ago, Tesla has already improved Actually Smart Summon (ASS).
Tesla rolled out Actually Smart Summon in early September. It is a feature that enables your car to park itself and pick you up at the touch of a button on the Tesla App on your smartphone.
The driverless Tesla will come to pick you up based on your location, which has been a long-awaited feature for some time, especially as the company transitioned to a vision-only approach for its self-driving efforts a couple of years ago.
Tesla Actually Smart Summon handles busy Costco parking lot with ease
However, the feature. is already undergoing some major improvements.
According to the Full Self-Driving v12.5.4 release notes, the Actually Smart Summon feature is able to work in longer distances than prior versions.
Full Self-Driving V12.5.4 now supports sunglasses, and Actually Smart Summon (on 2024.27.25) now goes a longer distance than in prior revisions.
— Teslascope (@teslascope) September 23, 2024
The Tesla release notes state the “Operating Range” of Summon is now 328 feet:
“To use Dumb Summon or Acutally Smart Summon, your phone must be connected to Model 3 within 279 ft. (85 meters) of the vehicle.
If Summon moves Model 3 more than 279 ft. (85 meters) away from the connected phone while Summon is active, vehicle speed is limited to 3 mph (5 km/h).
If Model 3 is more than 328 feet (100 meters) away from the connected phone, Summon pauses, and if Model 3 is over 345 ft. (105 meters) away, Summon comes to a stop and completes.
In any of the cases above, the Tesla mobile app provides haptic feedback and displays a message informing you that Model 3 is close to, or has exceeded, the operating range of the feature.”
This means you will be able to summon your vehicle from farther away, which is advantageous for a few reasons.
At first thought, the vehicle will be able to park further away from the front of wherever you were dropped off. If it is a grocery store or shopping center, it means your vehicle will be able to return to you from a portion of the parking lot that is not filled with cars.
This could lead to less risk to the exterior of your vehicle. It is always smart to park away from other cars, as some people are simply less careful about their swinging car doors, leading to unnecessary dents and dings.
It also increases convenience, as your vehicle will be able to come to you if it does have to park further away due to a crowded lot.
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