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Tesla Smart Summon patent highlights progress in 3D labeling for full self-driving features
A recently published Tesla patent application details the machine learning methods behind Smart Summon, specifically highlighting the progress being made with 3D labeling in training data.
The application, titled “Autonomous and User Controlled Vehicle Summon to a Target,” utilizes machine learning methods explicitly detailed in two other recent Tesla patent publications in its functionality. This series of three inventions altogether describes an automated way of generating training data which is then used by a machine learning model to accomplish an expansive list of self-driving capabilities in Summon.
“Traditionally, much of the effort to curate a training data set is done manually by reviewing potential training data and properly labeling the features associated with the data,” Tesla’s first application in the series states. “The effort required to create a training set with accurate labels can be significant and is often tedious… Therefore, there exists a need to improve the process for generating training data with accurate labeled features.”
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- A method flow chart from Tesla’s autonomous 3D labeling patent. | Image: Tesla/USPTO
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- A method flow chart from Tesla’s Smart Summon patent application. | Image: Tesla/USPTO
The application goes on to describe how labeled training data is made autonomously in their invention using sensors and the collection of what’s called a “time series,” i.e., a series of images captured over a period of time.
“Using data captured by sensors on a vehicle to capture the environment of the vehicle and vehicle operating parameters, a training data set is created,” it explains. “In some embodiments, a three-dimensional representation of a feature, such as a lane line, is created from the group of time series elements that corresponds to the ground truth… As one example, a series of images for a time period, such as 30 seconds, is used to determine the actual path of a vehicle lane line over the time period the vehicle travels…a single image of the group and the actual path taken can be used as training data to predict the path of the vehicle.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously mentioned that better labeling is one of the keys to speeding up the rollout of self-driving functionality and features like Reverse Summon. “We need to finish work on Autopilot core foundation code & 3D labeling, then functionality will happen quickly. Not long now,” Musk wrote on Twitter in March this year. With better labeling (more accurate training data) comes safer and more capable software due to improved predictions from the modeling.
When it comes to Tesla’s Smart Summon, prediction modeling is essential considering there isn’t a driver in the vehicle during its operation. The patent publication covering Summon embodies the first application’s time series functionality and a second application’s implementation of the time series’ training data in its methods, demonstrating one of the numerous potential uses for the machine learning invention. Hints about future developments using Smart Summon are also detailed in the application. Examples include:
- Syncing the Smart Summon with a calendar so the vehicle “automatically navigates to arrive at the location at the ending time, such as the end of a dinner party, a wedding, a restaurant reservation, etc.”
- Implementing a multi-part destination into the Summon instructions such as waypoints at an airport to pick up multiple passengers.
- Monitoring the heartbeat of a Summon user to ensure they are maintaining a connection with the vehicle while operating the feature.
- Customizing the vehicle’s arrival settings such as interior lighting, exterior lighting, hazard lights, welcome music, and climate control preferences.
One of the more unique bits about the Smart Summon patent application is the appearance of Elon Musk as an inventor. While the CEO is known to be intimately involved in nearly all aspects of vehicle design, software features, and business operations, his name is unexpectedly absent from most of the company’s inventions. However, this is apparently on purpose. “I generally try my best not to be on patents,” he revealed on Twitter in reply to a post about the Smart Summon application. Notably, inventorship is a legal definition based on the conception of an invention, i.e., not the person/people who suggested or directed its creation, but the person/people who devised the means to accomplish it.
Prior to the most recent patent publication, Musk contributed inventorship to the door and body styling of the Model X. He also contributed the same to both the design and function of Tesla’s vehicle charge inlets.
Tesla has reopened reservations for its long-delayed next-generation Roadster, asking buyers for a $50,000 deposit just days before an October 1 reveal event in Waco, Texas. The move revives a reservation process first launched in 2017 and later paused when Tesla pulled pricing from its website in 2021.
The reservation page requires an immediate $5,000 credit-card payment, described as fully refundable, followed by a $45,000 wire transfer due within 10 days, which is identical to what was expected previously. Reservations are not considered final until the wire clears.
The structure matches the 2017 terms Tesla used when it first collected deposits after unveiling a prototype. Tesla has not published a confirmed retail price or production start date on the order page.
Go buy a Roadster pic.twitter.com/n7rhouAmIS
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 21, 2026
The October 1 event is scheduled in Waco, about 90 minutes north of Tesla’s Austin headquarters and near SpaceX’s McGregor rocket test site. Tesla sent invitations to existing reservation holders and posted a “Go for launch” teaser on September 12.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established a temporary flight restriction over the McGregor area from September 18 through October 2, consistent with plans for a demonstration involving SpaceX-designed cold-gas thrusters. Elon Musk has previously described the optional package as enabling extreme acceleration or brief hovering. Tesla has said the event will include pricing, specifications, and production targets.
The second-generation Roadster was first shown in November 2017 during Tesla’s Semi launch. Musk promised production in 2020, with claimed performance of 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, more than 250 mph top speed, and roughly 620 miles of range.
Those targets have slipped repeatedly.
Tesla later pointed to 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025-2026 before indicating production would not begin until 2027 or 2028 at Gigafactory Texas. Design work has continued, with reports of a sharper, Cybertruck-influenced look replacing the original curvy prototype.
Original reservation holders who paid $50,000 in 2017, or $250,000 for the Founders Series, have waited nearly nine years without a production car. Some high-profile customers canceled. Tesla’s decision to reopen orders now, after previously shutting them down, tests whether new buyers will commit substantial funds before seeing a finalized production vehicle. The October 1 event is intended to answer remaining questions about what those buyers will actually receive and when.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is heading to Czechia after the Czech Ministry of Transport recognised the Dutch RDW’s provisional type approval, making the country the seventh EU member state to clear the system for public roads. Tesla Europe announced on 21 September 2026 that “FSD Supervised is now approved in Czechia” and that rollout “will begin soon.”
The decision marks a notable reversal. Earlier in 2026, Prague had declined to automatically recognise the Netherlands’ April approval, citing concerns over speed-limit compliance, traffic-sign recognition and driver-attention monitoring, and arguing that a coordinated EU approach was preferable. Officials said months of expert review, talks with Tesla and other member states, and real-world data from countries already using the system resolved those issues.
🚨 Tesla FSD heading to Czechia 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/mkzlM9QjrB
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 21, 2026
“Safety remains the top priority,” the ministry stated.
FSD Supervised remains a Level 2 driver-assistance system: the driver must stay engaged and is legally responsible. Eligible vehicles need AI4, the company’s most up-to-date hardware version. Tesla is expected to push the feature over the air in the coming days, following the pattern seen after earlier national approvals.
Europe’s rollout began when Dutch regulator RDW issued a provisional EU type approval on 10 April 2026 after extensive testing. Mutual recognition then produced a rapid cascade: Lithuania (20 May), Estonia (29 May), Denmark (9 June), Belgium (10 June) and Slovenia (7 September). Czechia now completes that list of seven.
The approvals cover only a modest share of the EU population, but they add political weight ahead of a 6 October vote by the Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles. A qualified majority, at least 15 of 27 member states representing 65 percent of the EU population, could open the remaining markets, including large ones such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain that have so far preferred to wait for a bloc-wide decision.
For Czech Tesla owners, the immediate prize is access to the same supervised highway and city driving already available in the other six countries. For Tesla, each new market generates additional European driving data and strengthens the case that FSD Supervised can operate safely under the continent’s varied road rules. The Czech approval is therefore both a local milestone and another incremental step toward a wider European launch.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established a Temporary Flight Restriction over SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas, rocket development and test facility, a move widely viewed as preparation for Tesla’s October 1 Roadster reveal. The restriction took effect September 18 and runs through October 2.
NOTAM FDC 6/3825 covers a 1.5-nautical-mile radius around the site near Waco and extends from the surface to 10,000 feet above ground level. The FAA cited hazards under 14 CFR 91.137(a)(3) and barred aircraft and drones from the zone. Tesla’s invitation to reservation holders already placed the event in Waco, about 20 minutes from McGregor, making the timing and location more than coincidental.
A TFR has appeared around SpaceX’s McGregor Testing Site up to 10,000ft and runs through until the 2nd of October 👀 pic.twitter.com/rcZ4p4JkLm
— Niall Anderson (@INiallAnderson) September 18, 2026
What stands out is the altitude. Typical recent TFRs at McGregor for engine static fires and component tests have used far lower ceilings, often around 2,000 feet. Raising the limit to 10,000 feet is unusually high even compared with some Starbase restrictions and signals operations that go beyond a standard ground-level engine test.
That extra airspace has fueled speculation about the long-promised SpaceX Package for the Roadster. Elon Musk has described cold-gas thrusters that could deliver sub-one-second 0-60 times and, more dramatically, brief lift-off. Reports earlier this year indicated Tesla planned a remote-controlled demonstration at McGregor in which the car would leave the ground with no one inside; spectators kept hundreds of yards away because of the noise.
The 10,000-foot envelope would give operators a large safety buffer even if the vehicle only hovers a short distance.
Tesla has not confirmed a flight demo. The company has only used the phrase “Go for launch” and posted a teaser image of the car on what looks like a launch pad. The TFR itself mentions only hazards. Still, closing airspace this high and this close to the reveal date strongly suggests the event will include more than a static display.
Whether the Roadster actually hovers on October 1 remains to be seen. What is certain is that the FAA has cleared a large vertical slice of Texas sky for whatever Tesla and SpaceX intend to show. Reservation holders heading to Waco will be among the first to find out if the car can do more than drive.
Tesla Roadster is available for order once again following brief hold
Tesla Full Self-Driving expands to another European country
