This afternoon, Tesla started shipping software update 2024.27.20 to customer cars. This build contains a long-awaited upgrade to Smart Summon, known as ‘Actual Smart Summon’.
For those unfamiliar with Smart Summon, this allowed users to connect to their Tesla and request it drive to you, even without anyone in the vehicle. This was impressive as far as being technically possible, but practically suffered from routing issues, slowness and a limited range in which you could access it, making its usefulness very limited.
With Actual Smart Summon, the solution moves to the newer end-to-end neural network and that means its ability to path plan through complex environments gets way better.
One start example of this is a video from AI DRIVR where he requests the car to pick him up, but does so from an interesting location. This location requires the car to read signs at the roundabout, understand that it can’t simply follow the shortest route, as there’s a ‘no left turn’ sign.
In the video we see the car make the right turn, then navigate around the roundabout (all inside a carpark), and arrive to pick him up, very closely reflecting what a human driver would do, albeit slightly slower.
In the video we see the live view from the onboard cameras being transmitted to the Tesla app on the mobile phone and at any time, the finger can be lifted to stop the vehicle.
This shows Tesla’s confidence that they can deal with any network latency and I suspect they even go as far as doing a connectivity test before allowing the function to begin.
The software update is rolling out to more people now who have HW4 (or AI4) vehicles. As we seen with the FSD 12.5 releases, this should roll out to HW3 vehicles in time.
As much as I’d love to see A.S.S. in Australia, given its reliance on the new FSDs end-to-end model from FSD 12.5 builds, I don’t expect we’ll see it this year (although would be very happy to be wrong).
The other side of Actual Smart Summon is Banish, where the car would drop you off, then go find a park and park itself. There’s no sign of that on this build, and would likely be a bigger functional improvement for end users.
A.S.S would be very useful for those times where you walk out of the shops and it’s raining, as long as it can navigate complex environments and what we haven’t seen a lot of yet, is how it interacts with other cars.
Coming Soon
In the release notes for this build (below), Tesla lists 3 important improvements coming in future revisions.
The first is the ability to trigger HomeLink & myQ garage integrations. This means if you were to summon a vehicle that was in a garage, it would open the garage, drive out, then close the garage (in theory).
There is no mention yet of improvements to support for angled driveways which traditionally will result in the car stopping once the incline/decline gets to severe.
Tesla also lists that Usage without Continuous Press is coming soon. As we see from AI DRIVR’s video, he needs to press and hold an on-screen button to make this work. That’s fine for a few seconds, but if we look at the timecodes, we see the button was held between 0:42 – 2:05, a total of 1 minute and 43 seconds.
Nobody wants to hold and button that long, so allowing the feature without a continuous press would be a great improvement. I expect the alternative means we’d get a button to pause, or stop the A.S.S. operation. At that point, I’d hope you could restart it, rather than have to run to retrieve your car.
Finally Tesla’s roadmap includes Longer range. This suggests that users would be able to call their vehicle from further away and if avoiding walking (let’s imagine you have an injury or disability), then this would make the feature far more valuable.
2024.27.20 release notes
Buckle up for the ride of your life, except, surprise! You’re not in the car. ASS (Actually Smart Summon) allows your vehicle to come to you, or head to a spot that you choose, all on its own. It’s like magic, but with more tech and less wand-waving.
Additionally, Dumb Summon allows you to move your Tesla forward or back with simple controls directly in your mobile app.
To use, open your Tesla app, hit the Summon tab, and get a live feed from your car’s cameras to guide your supervision.
- COME TO ME: Press and hold to have your Tesla come to you.
- GO TO TARGET: Set where you want your Tesla to go, then press and hold to send it on its merry way.
You can halt your journey anytime by just letting go of the button. See your Owner’s Manual for additional details.
ASS and Dumb Summon should only be used in parking lots or driveways. Keep an eye on your car and its surroundings at all times. Stay vigilant, especially around the fast and the furious (people, bikes, and other cars). You are still responsible for your vehicle, so watch as it drives and stop it if necessary.
Note: ASS requires the Tesla mobile app version 4.36.6 or later.
Coming Soon:
- HomeLink & myQ garage integration
- Usage without Continuous Press
- Longer range
