Tesla’s pioneering Autopilot semi-autonomous system has received a lot of flak and linked to accidents, yet the company recently started to introduce another feature, named ‘Enhanced Summon’, across its range, including for the entry-level Model 3.
The Enhanced Summon feature allows Tesla owners to control their vehicles via an app and has been designed to make a car pull out of a parking space and slowly approach its owner. Two videos recently published on YouTube show Enhanced Summon in action with a pair of Model 3s.
The first clip appears to have been filmed at some kind of Tesla facility and shows a grey Model 3 creeping out a parking space as its driver stands roughly 50 feet away operating it through the Tesla smartphone application. The Model 3 then drives towards him before coming to a stop.
In the second video, a white Model 3 is shown in an empty lot slowly reversing out of a parking space. The electric sedan then starts to turn and inches its way forward before coming to a stop in a different section of the parking lot, gracefully working its way around a concrete island in the lot.
We’re not entirely convinced how useful Enhanced Summon is, particularly since it seems to operate so slowly. It could prove useful if you aren’t the most confident at exiting tight parking spaces, but other than that, it would be much faster and simpler to just get in the car and drive it out yourself.
This doesn’t detract from the fact that it is a novelty, and besides Elon Musk has been promising Elon Musk had been promising that feature for a number of months before introducing it earlier this year. The delay between its introduction and actual deployment is due to Tesla having to wait for regulatory approval first.