Elon Musk announced an upcoming improvement to Tesla’s Summon feature Wednesday, which will allow its electric vehicles to “follow you like a pet.”
In a series of tweets Wednesday evening, the entrepreneur said the new capability should be made available in around six weeks to all Tesla vehicles built within the last two years.
Tesla advanced Summon ready in ~6 weeks! Just an over-the-air software upgrade, so will work on all cars made in past 2 years (Autopilot hardware V2+).
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2018
In the current Summon version, a Tesla vehicle can park itself inside your garage, for example. The planned update would, according to Musk, allow the vehicle to “drive to your phone location” and follow you if needed through use of the accompanying cell phone app.
Car will drive to your phone location & follow you like a pet if you hold down summon button on Tesla app
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2018
You’ll also be able to drive the vehicle “like a big [remote control] car,” Musk added, if it is within your line of sight.
Also, you’ll be able to drive it from your phone remotely like a big RC car if in line of sight
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2018
Musk says that by sometime next year, a Tesla will hopefully even be able to “drive around a parking lot, find an empty spot, read signs to confirm it’s valid and park.”
The intended upgrade was revealed shortly after Musk commented on a viral video showing the Summon feature being used to remotely park a Tesla.
I was not sure when I would use this feature… till today. @elonmusk @tesla pic.twitter.com/bC6rFt2SuW
— DShawnK (@rarelyserious) October 31, 2018
Last week, Musk announced that the company planned to implement a “dog mode” feature designed to keep animals from overheating while locked inside their owner’s vehicle.
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