Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Autonomous Park and Summon

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
I think about 1% of people will end up really using this, ones with a tight garage where they benefit by getting out of car before pulling in/out - have few neighbors with 1 car garages like that (but no MS).

For the most part, people posting videos have spacious 2-3+ car garages and this takes about 10x longer than actually getting in the car and driving out yourself. That, and usually our cars are plugged in at home.
 
I think about 1% of people will end up really using this, ones with a tight garage where they benefit by getting out of car before pulling in/out - have few neighbors with 1 car garages like that (but no MS).

For the most part, people posting videos have spacious 2-3+ car garages and this takes about 10x longer than actually getting in the car and driving out yourself. That, and usually our cars are plugged in at home.

Totally agree. Real world value is minimal, cool factor is definitely there though. I have a side-load garage. Using this would actually make things more difficult as I have to really cut the wheel entering and existing.

The release notes talk about right parking spots, who would park their Model S in a tight spot at a shopping center? Not me.


But but I do know people who have significant others who have a tendency to remove mirrors from their car, so this would definitely benefit them.
 
I think about 1% of people will end up really using this, ones with a tight garage where they benefit by getting out of car before pulling in/out - have few neighbors with 1 car garages like that (but no MS).

For the most part, people posting videos have spacious 2-3+ car garages and this takes about 10x longer than actually getting in the car and driving out yourself. That, and usually our cars are plugged in at home.

Its not just for home parking. Think about parking in the city and how tight the spots are...at least in San Francisco, its pretty normal that you would have a tough time and this feature would at least come in handy!
 
I think about 1% of people will end up really using this, ones with a tight garage where they benefit by getting out of car before pulling in/out - have few neighbors with 1 car garages like that (but no MS).

For the most part, people posting videos have spacious 2-3+ car garages and this takes about 10x longer than actually getting in the car and driving out yourself. That, and usually our cars are plugged in at home.

With all due respect I disagree. Imagine your car way out in the "back 40" of the parking lot, you're on the 5th floor of the building and summon your car to drive itself to the front of the building. It's now there waiting on you when you walk out the door. Pretty cool concept if you ask me. :)

- - - Updated - - -

Free valet parking!
 
With all due respect I disagree. Imagine your car way out in the "back 40" of the parking lot, you're on the 5th floor of the building and summon your car to drive itself to the front of the building. It's now there waiting on you when you walk out the door. Pretty cool concept if you ask me. :)

- - - Updated - - -

Free valet parking!

Agree. I also see the benefits when you park your car all alone in a distant space and return to find it snuggled up by other cars.
 
Handling the garage door works pretty well too. I wish I took a video. Upon summon, the car backed up to the close garage door, stopped, opened the garage door, pulled in and parked, then shut the door. Pretty cool, but not particularly useful.

On the other hand, I wanted to see if the garage door would open automatically when pulling the car out. Naturally I was watching this very closely. I told the car to go forward (out) of the garage with the door down. Bump, right into the door. Fortunately, not even a scratch on the nosecone. I'm wondering why the door wasn't pickup up by the sensors.
 
Handling the garage door works pretty well too. I wish I took a video. Upon summon, the car backed up to the close garage door, stopped, opened the garage door, pulled in and parked, then shut the door. Pretty cool, but not particularly useful.

On the other hand, I wanted to see if the garage door would open automatically when pulling the car out. Naturally I was watching this very closely. I told the car to go forward (out) of the garage with the door down. Bump, right into the door. Fortunately, not even a scratch on the nosecone. I'm wondering why the door wasn't pickup up by the sensors.

I would think that the camera or sensor would have picked up on the fact that the door was closed. Really strange...
 
As for using the feature in tight parking spots, I don't see it being useful if the spot is tight because of other cars. You wouldn't want to park so close to other people's cars that they wind up having difficulty getting into their cars, and wind up possibly damaging your Tesla. But imagine a tight parking spot that is tight because of cement pillars or walls. Without this feature, that spot too may have been unusable before, because you would not have been able to open the door to exit the car. With this feature, however, it becomes the perfect parking spot. The cement pillars that prevent you from opening the driver's door also protect the car from door dings from other cars.

All that being said, I too see this feature as just the first step towards something more significant.
 
Cool... not very useful... but still very cool.

I can see our kids looking back at these videos and laughing --then again, if they lose the ability to actually drive a car the laugh would be hollow. That's the real ironic thing about autopilot. One day (many years from now) it will surpass our ability to drive, and at that point it will likely be considered negligent, or rather criminal, to allow humans to drive, unless it is for sport -- like riding horses, but not for transportation, and not on public roads.

If I had to get up every day and let my Tesla drive me to and from work, without any ability for me to drive it, that would sure be sad. (And, needless to say, that thread here about people complaining about how long it took to release auto pilot will sure be looked at in a different light!)
 
Cool... not very useful... but still very cool.

I can see our kids looking back at these videos and laughing --then again, if they lose the ability to actually drive a car the laugh would be hollow. That's the real ironic thing about autopilot. One day (many years from now) it will surpass our ability to drive, and at that point it will likely be considered negligent, or rather criminal, to allow humans to drive, unless it is for sport -- like riding horses, but not for transportation, and not on public roads.

If I had to get up every day and let my Tesla drive me to and from work, without any ability for me to drive it, that would sure be sad. (And, needless to say, that thread here about people complaining about how long it took to release auto pilot will sure be looked at in a different light!)

Exactly. I tend to buy new and keep for a fair while so I'm viewing my upcoming Model S (Arrives March - hopefully!) as the last car I'm likely to drive. Once they drive themselves there will be no accelerating away from stops as you wouldn't be best pleased if you are sitting in the car working on a laptop and the car decides to pull 1G away from the lights just because it fancied showing that upstart Google car in the next lane who was boss. I fully intend to make the most of the next few years.

- - - Updated - - -

Cool... not very useful... but still very cool.

I can see our kids looking back at these videos and laughing --then again, if they lose the ability to actually drive a car the laugh would be hollow. That's the real ironic thing about autopilot. One day (many years from now) it will surpass our ability to drive, and at that point it will likely be considered negligent, or rather criminal, to allow humans to drive, unless it is for sport -- like riding horses, but not for transportation, and not on public roads.

If I had to get up every day and let my Tesla drive me to and from work, without any ability for me to drive it, that would sure be sad. (And, needless to say, that thread here about people complaining about how long it took to release auto pilot will sure be looked at in a different light!)

Exactly. I tend to buy new and keep for a fair while so I'm viewing my upcoming Model S (Arrives March - hopefully!) as the last car I'm likely to drive. Once they drive themselves there will be no accelerating away from stops as you wouldn't be best pleased if you are sitting in the car working on a laptop and the car decides to pull 1G away from the lights just because it fancied showing that upstart Google car in the next lane who was boss. I fully intend to make the most of the next few years.
 
One day (many years from now) it will surpass our ability to drive, and at that point it will likely be considered negligent, or rather criminal, to allow humans to drive, unless it is for sport...
I would not say "many years from now", I would say "a few years from now", as in two or three for Tesla vehicles and some other manufacturers. Keep in mind that right now Google's autonomous cars have been proven to be safer than human drivers based on their driving record. The Google cars are not yet a product that is on the market. Not yet...
 
The real world functionality of summon at this point is pretty minimal. I personally think this was more of a PR move by Tesla, which I have no problems with. AP is very cool, but this is the first time seeing the car moving with NOBODY inside of it. That's a pretty big deal.