On April 29, Jared Overton parked his all-electric luxury saloon near 400 North and 1030 West in Lindon, Utah County. In 5 minutes, he didn’t like what he saw.
Can’t blame him; no one would like to see their ride under the parked trailer in front, with its windshield smashed. Then again, 99.9 percent of us do not drive a car clever enough to park or drive on its own like Overton’s damaged ride, a Model S with a Summon feature.
Which, Tesla says after conducting an investigation, was all of Overton’s doing. In a letter signed by a regional service manager, it states that the mode “was initiated by a double-press of the gear selector stalk button, shifting from Drive to Park and requesting Summon activation.” Three seconds after Overton got out and closed the door, it was activated.
The same letter reads: “Tesla has reviewed the vehicle’s logs, which show that the incident occurred as a result of the driver not being properly attentive to the vehicle’s surroundings while using the Summon feature or maintaining responsibility for safely controlling the vehicle at all times”.
Overton contests their findings. “They can tell me what they want to tell me with the logs, but it doesn’t change what we know happened here”, he replies. He claims that the only thing he did was talk to a worker at the business at the side of the road about the car for up to a minute. The Model S is that kind of car, you see. Then they both headed inside the business and, when they got out, were unpleasantly surprised.
“We were trying to figure out how on earth the vehicle started on its own,” Overton said. “What happened with this kind of rogue vehicle?”
Moreover, he says that even if he did initiate the Summon feature by mistake, then the Model S should have started parking itself while he was still there, talking to the worker: “Even during that 15, 20 second walk right here, we would have easily heard the impact of the vehicle into the back of the trailer.”
When contacted by KSL, the company did not comment on Overton’s claims, though it pointed out that the Summon feature is “in beta” and that every owner must agree to terms on the (huge) touch screen before engaging it.
Fair enough. The next few lines remind us of a previous safety concern and are a bit troubling, though.
“Please note that the vehicle may not detect certain obstacles, including those that are very narrow (e.g., bikes), lower than the fascia, or hanging from the ceiling. As such, Summon requires that you continually monitor your vehicle’s movement and surroundings while it is in progress and that you remain prepared to stop the vehicle at any time using your key fob or mobile app or by pressing any door handle. You must maintain control and responsibility for your vehicle when using this feature and should only use it on private property.”
Overton is not concerned about the $700 windshield repair but safety and the way Tesla is brushing this off as a small mistake on his part. “Imagine if a child was right there — I guarantee that they would be responding to this a lot differently,” he said. “I will not feel safe with my little boy playing in the garage or the driveway if there’s the potential for a rogue vehicle.”
Lots of questions raised on the autonomous tech that’s shoved down our throats promoted as the next big thing in automotive evolution. For one, even if the tech is perfected, are today’s drivers capable of handling it?