This improves safety for pedestrians but can also help avoid any damage to vehicles in case of an accidental collision.

The improvements come with Full Self-Driving version 12.5.4.1, which is rolling out to owners now. This is the third update to Actually Smart Summon, with the second coming a few weeks back.

With the ASS suite rolling out just about a month ago, Tesla is still making efforts to improve its functionality, just as it would with any other part of its Full Self-Driving suite.

The improvements, according to the release notes, are as follows:

• Improved Public/High-Speed Road Aborts
  • ASS does not function on any sort of public roads, so this update aims to do a better job of recognizing these, stopping before it navigates onto them.
• Improved Blocked Camera Aborts
• Reduced False Positive Collision Mitigation Aborts
  • The suite will now be more accurate when identifying a potential collision
• Refined Dumb Summon
• Added Custom/Fart Completion Sounds

Each subsequent release of ASS aims to make the feature more accurate and realistic with its movements and its performance, just as each update to the Full Self-Driving suite does to its on-road performance.

As far as CEO Elon Musk’s response, he has continued with the running joke of the Actually Smart Summon acronym:

Wow, and here I am mistakenly thinking people love talking about ASS ?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2024

Reviews of the ASS function have been mixed, but that’s why Tesla continues to push these updates and refinements.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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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.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Yesterday, Tesla started rolling out Actually Smart Summon to owners, but it seemed that it was exclusive to those driving vehicles equipped with Hardware 4 (HW4).

Tesla finally launches Actually Smart Summon and Dumb Summon

Hardware 4 is Tesla’s most advanced self-driving computer, and seems to be the choice of those who are most concerned with receiving the most advanced and up-to-date Full Self-Driving (FSD) releases, at least as of right now.

While HW3 vehicles might eventually get phased out as the FSD suite becomes more robust, it is not the case right now.

As HW4 vehicles started receiving Actually Smart Summon yesterday, HW3 vehicle owners were left in limbo, and Tesla had not commented on whether those vehicles would receive the new update.

However, Actually Smart Summon started rolling out to HW3 vehicles last night:

HW3 now got that ASS!

Will be doing some filming HW3 vs HW4 later tonight with @WholeMarsBlog

Thanks @Tesla_AI for the hard work getting the update out to HW3 in under a day. pic.twitter.com/Ce3MpnYywI

— Zack (@BLKMDL3) September 3, 2024

According to @BLKMDL3, a 2019 Model 3 Performance owner, the feature performs as well as it does on a new 2024 Model 3 Performance.

The two vehicles differ from a hardware standpoint, obviously, but as the chips in both are quite different, it seems the suite is refined enough to not have that impact on performance.

The 2019 Model 3 operates with an Intel Atom chip and utilizes ultrasonic sensors, something new Tesla vehicles are void of as the company converted to Vision-only a few years ago.

The 2024 Model 3 Performance has an AMD Ryzen chip, which was upgraded to help support the various changes that Tesla has made from a technical standpoint.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

The post Teslas with Hardware 3 are getting the new Actually Smart Summon feature appeared first on TESLARATI.

After the first videos showed it rolling seamlessly through an empty shopping center parking lot, including a roundabout, more footage of the feature is being released.

Now, it is being tested in a busy Costco parking lot in the middle of the day. Filled with cars, shopping carts, and pedestrians. Costco parking lots are also pretty tight, and require extreme awareness, especially during the club’s busiest hours. It is a stressful and sometimes frustrating experience driving through a Costco lot.

@AIDRIVR on X has been sharing content related to the release of Actually Smart Summon, and showed the seamless navigation of the feature through a Costco lot yesterday:

Proceeding Cautiously and Respectfully

A big part of driving through any busy parking lot is using your right-of-way, and it is also plenty of give and take.

As we can see in the image below, the Tesla pulls just to the side to allow the approaching vehicle to go through.

After allowing that vehicle to proceed, the Tesla then uses its right-of-way to move forward. An alternating pattern allows traffic to move fluidly, safely, and efficiently. The Tesla would pull out and proceed while the black car (seen behind the white car) would wait for it to go through.

Tesla ASS handles aggressive driver

As previously mentioned, navigating these lots requires give and take. However, some drivers simply want to take.

The Tesla pulls up to this intersection where it has the right-of-way, while the Honda SUV on the right has to stop to allow the Tesla to proceed.

After the Tesla proceeded cautiously to ensure the Honda wouldn’t jump the gun, it starts to move. However, the Honda driver attempts to cut the Tesla off, but the EV does not hesitate to continue on with its right-of-way. The Honda realizes this and safely stops, allowing the Tesla to proceed.

Tesla backs out of spot, cautiously proceeds by pedestrian

The Tesla also backed out of a spot after a vehicle waited for it. The car that is seen behind the pillar to the left of the steering wheel stopped to allow the Model 3 operating with Actually Smart Summon to back out of its spot safely.

It then sees the pedestrians on the right and cautiously and safely navigates around them, despite the tight parking lot.

What do you think about the performance of ASS in this parking lot? Check out the full performance below:

Actually Smart Summon @ Costco pic.twitter.com/dEzPPL3o8C

— ΛI DRIVR (@AIDRIVR) September 3, 2024

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Tesla released Actually Smart Summon last night, bringing the feature back after the company transitioned to a Vision-only approach several years ago. The original release, known as Smart Summon, is relatively identical to the new Actually Smart Summon. However, there are some improvements.

We are now seeing owners take ASS for a spin as the vehicles are operating with the new form of Summon.

Tesla finally launches Actually Smart Summon and Dumb Summon

One owner showed the improved accuracy of the navigation of a vehicle on Summon as a Model Y made it through a roundabout and picked him up on the far side:

Actually Smart Summon test #2 (Roundabout)

I’m officially impressed pic.twitter.com/GbiWcdFYpB

— ΛI DRIVR (@AIDRIVR) September 3, 2024

It seems to navigate the roundabout with plenty of confidence, and although slow and cautious, there is something to be said about the vehicle doing what it is with no true hiccups along the way.

The next true test will be to see Summon in a parking lot that has some foot traffic, as the reactions of what people will see as a “driverless car” would be priceless in their own right.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Tesla Summon is a feature that allows people to literally summon their vehicle to their location. If you are standing outside of a grocery store and your car is parked, you can call your car to your location. It will come pick you up, and it could even end up parking itself after dropping you off at the front of the store before your trip.

It was released several years ago, and many users displayed the advantages. However, it needed a major overhaul as the company transitioned to Vision Only, and Tesla aims for it to completely navigate parking lots from parking to picking up the owner.

Tesla Summon to get major improvements, Autopark gets a new name

Now, it appears it is closer than ever to be re-released.

According to Tesla App Updates, Summon is nearing its “final touches” and could appear in the Tesla App as a beta feature:

I see no more debugging strings being added, so that’s good. Still seems like this is going to come out and be BETA, but could be wrong on that.

– New account documents that will show up in the app like FSD, and Premium Connectivity

App Build time: Mon Aug 26 2024 20:06:33 EST

— Tesla App Updates (iOS) (@Tesla_App_iOS) August 29, 2024

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said earlier this year that the new ASS feature could be released with Full Self-Driving version 12.5:

Tesla Actual Smart Summon set for release with FSD 12.5.x: Musk

Musk said it would be bundled with the FSD version 12.5, and would be released in August. It does not seem like it will be released this month as we have less than 48 hours left in the month, but early September definitely seems like a possibility.

It comes at a time when we are well beyond the aimed release date, as Musk said it was “almost done,” hinting that it would be released late last year. However, Tesla does not have the greatest track record when it comes to keeping with certain timeframes.

It could make its way to owners within the next few weeks.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Over the past few months, we’ve covered the possibility of potential improvements for various features within the Tesla realm, including Auto Wipers and Smart Summon. These two features, in particular, should be the focus of Tesla’s “really cool stuff” that is set to come in the next few months.

Auto Wipers

Tesla’s Auto Wiper feature is arguably the most polarizing of all. In February, we reported that they were set to get an update that would fix their subpar performance. In reality, they were one of the most frustrating features for many owners, who claimed they were just awful to use.

Here are some of the responses we received on that report:

“Auto wipers on my half-priced Kia work far better.”

“It’s been terrible. It runs when you don’t need it and doesn’t work enough when you do need it.”

“They drive me nuts! They are awful.”

“They always seem to be 1-2 seconds behind.”

Tesla auto wipers are about to get an update to fix their subpar performance

These should be among the first things fixed for owners, as their performance is among Tesla’s most criticized features. Elon Musk apologized for their “quirky” performance in 2023. Rather than an apology, people would likely much rather have the feature fixed.

Actually Smart Summon (ASS)

Along with the auto wipers, Smart Summon is among the list of Tesla features that truly need improvements.

The problem is that Musk said in June 2023 that auto wipers would be fixed “in about 3 weeks,” and ASS would come “a month or two after that.”

We have yet to see improvements with either feature.

Smart Summon is a fantastic feature that allows an owner to literally summon their vehicle to their location using the Tesla app. It is commonly used in supermarket parking lots.

Tesla Model 3 unparks itself and drives to save family from torrential rainstorm

However, the feature has been in need of major improvements, and Tesla has worked on making Smart Summon more robust and capable for some time now. No improvements have been released quite yet.

As noted by Not a Tesla App, ASS will use GPS coordinates to act as a personal valet service.

These could be among the newest features offered by Tesla in the near term, especially if Musk is teasing “really cool stuff.”

However, we are all too familiar with the fact that Tesla and Musk’s timelines are not necessarily accurate to the day.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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