Tesla recently released Smart Summon in China on Monday. With the feature, users can now have their vehicles pick them up at designated locations in parking lots. Tesla enthusiast @Tesla_Mania shared the news about the Smart Summon China release in a post about the company’s 2019.40.50 update.
The rollout of Smart Summon in China, aside from providing a new convenience feature for local customers, is also a good way for the U.S. electric car maker to collect more data and improve the feature. This is particularly important in China, since the country is expecting an influx of Teslas next year with the imminent deliveries of the Made-In-China Model 3.
Tesla initially released Smart Summon in September together with its V10 software update. While the feature’s initial iterations left much to be desired, improvements rolled out by Tesla through its over-the-air updates have made Smart Summon smoother and more reliable over the past few months.
Based on Tesla’s V10 Release Notes last September, Smart Summon is available for those who purchased Full-Self Driving or the Enhanced Autopilot. The feature allows the car to navigate a parking lot and go to its owner or a destination of choice. This is done without any driver controlling the vehicle from inside the car.
” t’s the perfect feature to use if you have an overflowing shopping cart, are dealing with a fussy child, or simply don’t want to walk to your car through the rain. Customers who have had early access to Smart Summon have told us that it adds both convenience to their trips and provides them with a unique moment of delight when their car picks them up to begin their journey. Those using Smart Summon must remain responsible for the car and monitor it and its surroundings at all times,” the Tesla release notes read.
-->Tesla CEO Elon Musk earlier last week hinted at the imminent release of the company’s holiday software update that includes the much-awaited sneak preview of the FSD. The update is expected to roll out a “feature-complete” version of Full Self-Driving to an initial batch of its early access program, but so far, no reports have been shared about such a release so far.
Ultimately, the autonomous driving capabilities of Teslas will help fulfill its goal of having a fleet of self-driving Robotaxis. If that plan materializes in the near future, one can only expect the value of the company and its vehicles to go up dramatically and as Musk explained before, “a fully autonomous car that can function as a Robotaxi is several times more valuable than a non-autonomous car.” For a car to function well without driver input, it must be able to master dropping off and pickup up passengers from parking lots.
In the meantime, Tesla continues to perfect its Smart Summon. Just last week, an electric vehicle enthusiast demonstrated how Tesla has been improving the Smart Summon feature. Kevin Rooke tested if the vehicle can recognize moving objects such as a makeshift shopping cart in the experiment. Rooke proved impressed with how his Model 3 passed the tests, even carrying out more challenging tests such as rolling basketballs on the vehicle’s path.
Recently, another Tesla owner tested the Smart Summon capability of his Tesla. YouTuber Daniel Spalding used the Come To Me feature of the vehicle on a snow-covered parking lot. This was another challenging experiment aced by Tesla’s Smart Summon given the poor visibility in the area and the absence of road lines because of the weather condition. Much to the Tesla onwer’s pleasant surprise, Smart Summon was up to the task.
News
Tesla Giga Berlin is still ramping production to meet Model Y demand: plant manager
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin has expanded to two full shifts, as per the facility’s plant manager, and a lot of it is due to Model Y demand.
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin has expanded to two full shifts, as per the facility’s plant manager, and a lot of it is due to Model Y demand. While registrations in some countries such as Sweden have fallen sharply this year, the company’s sales in other key territories have been rising.
Giga Berlin shifts to two shifts
Giga Berlin factory manager AndrĂ© Thierig told the DPA that the facility has been running two shifts since September to manage a surge in global orders. And due to the tariff dispute with the United States, vehicles that are produced at Giga Berlin are now being exported to Canada.Â
“We deliver to well over 30 markets and definitely see a positive trend there,” Thierig said.
Despite Giga Berlin now having two shifts, the facility’s production still needs to ramp up more. This is partly due to the addition of the Tesla Model Y Performance and Standard, which are also being produced in the Grunheide-based factory. Interestingly enough, Giga Berlin still only produces the Model Y, unlike other factories like Gigafactory Texas, the Fremont Factory, and Gigafactory Shanghai, which produce more than one type of vehicle.
Norway’s momentum
Norway, facing an imminent tax increase on cars, has seen a historic spike in Tesla purchases as buyers rush to secure deliveries before the change takes effect, as noted in a CarUp report. As per recent reports, Tesla has broken Norway’s all-time annual sales record this month, beating Volkswagen’s record that has stood since 2016.
-->What is rather remarkable is the fact that Tesla was able to achieve so much in Norway with one hand practically tied behind its back. This is because the company’s biggest sales draw, FSD, remains unavailable in the country. Fortunately, Tesla is currently hard at work attempting to get FSD approved for Europe, a notable milestone that should spur even more vehicle sales in the region.
Tesla is launching a crazy Full Self-Driving free trial, which will enable owners who have not purchased the suite outright to try it for 30 days.
There are a handful of stipulations that will be needed in order for you to qualify for the free trial, which was announced on Thursday night.
Tesla said the trial is for v14, the company’s latest version of the Full Self-Driving suite, and will be available to new and existing Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, and Cybertruck owners, who will have the opportunity to try the latest features, including Speed Profiles, Arrival Options, and other new upgrades.
🚨 Tesla is launching a free 30-day trial of Full Self-Driving in North America for owners.
It includes every model, but you need v14.2 or later, and you cannot have already purchased the suite outright. https://t.co/8CNmxxOkVl
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 27, 2025
You must own one of the five Tesla models, have Full Self-Driving v14.2 or later, and have an eligible vehicle in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, or Canada.
The company said it is a non-transferable trial, which is not redeemable for cash. Tesla is reaching out to owners via email to give them the opportunity to enable the Full Self-Driving trial.
Those who are subscribed to the monthly Full Self-Driving program are eligible, so they will essentially get a free month of the suite.
Once it is installed, the trial will begin, and the 30-day countdown will begin.
Tesla is making a major push to increase its Full Self-Driving take rate, as it revealed that about 12 percent of owners are users of the program during its recent earnings call.
Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said during the call:
“We feel that as people experience the supervised FSD at scale, demand for our vehicles, like Elon said, would increase significantly. On the FSD adoption front, we’ve continued to see decent progress. However, note that the total paid FSD customer base is still small, around 12% of our current fleet.”
Earlier today, we reported on Tesla also launching a small-scale advertising campaign on X for the Full Self-Driving suite, hoping to increase adoption.
Tesla Full Self-Driving warrants huge switch-up on essential company strategy
It appears most people are pretty content with the subscription program. It costs just $99 a month, in comparison to the $8,000 fee it is for the outright purchase.
Tesla Full Self-Driving has warranted a huge switch-up on an essential company strategy as the automaker is hoping to increase the take rate of the ADAS suite.
Unlike other automotive companies, Tesla has long been an outlier, as it has famously ditched a traditional advertising strategy in favor of organic buzz, natural word-of-mouth through its production innovation, and utilizing CEO Elon Musk’s huge social media presence to push its products.
Tesla has taken the money that it would normally spend on advertising and utilized it for R&D purposes. For a long time, it yielded great results, and ironically, Tesla saw benefits from other EV makers running ads.
Tesla counters jab at lack of advertising with perfect response
However, in recent years, Tesla has decided to adjust this strategy, showing a need to expand beyond its core enthusiast base, which is large, but does not span over millions and millions as it would need to fend off global EV competitors, which have become more well-rounded and a better threat to the company.
In 2024 and 2025, Tesla started utilizing ads to spread knowledge about its products. This is continuing, as Full Self-Driving ads are now being spotted on social media platforms, most notably, X, which is owned by Musk:
NEWS: Tesla is running paid advertisements on X about FSD (Supervised). Here’s an ad they started running yesterday: pic.twitter.com/IHVywLMyTd
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) November 25, 2025
Interestingly, Tesla’s strategy on FSD advertising is present in Musk’s new compensation package, as the eleventh tranche describes a goal of achieving 10 million active paid FSD subscriptions.
Full Self-Driving is truly Tesla’s primary focus moving forward, although it could be argued that it also has a special type of dedication toward its Optimus robot project. However, FSD will ultimately become the basis for the Robotaxi, which will enable autonomous ride-sharing across the globe as it is permitted in more locations.
Tesla has been adjusting its advertising strategy over the past couple of years, and it seems it is focused on more ways to spread awareness about its products. It will be interesting to see if the company will expand its spending even further, as it has yet to put on a commercial during live television.
We wouldn’t put it out of the question, at least not yet.
Tesla Giga Berlin is still ramping production to meet Model Y demand: plant manager
Tesla launches crazy Full Self-Driving free trial: here’s how you can get it
