Summon Changing to Smartphone Only (According to Consumer Reports)

For me, the best solution would be for me to be required to either hold the button on the fob or the app. I am a bit uncomfortable when using the fob and having to hit it again to stop. It has always worked, but what if I get distracted something? I would prefer to have it stop if I let go of the fob or app button.

Well if anyone wants to keep it the way it was before, they can just use Remote S instead of the official app. Not a big issue to me, in my opinion.

How would CR have advance notice of such a change?

ecarfan said:

How would CR have advance notice of such a change?

Click to expand...

If you watch the video, CR explain that they were the ones who told Tesla to do it, and then Tesla said, "Okay, we'll do it."

I park perpendicular on a non-busy street in front of my house, next to a big SUV. Pulling out into traffic blind is no fun, so I love the summon feature. I go stand out in the middle of the road and can see that no cars are coming as I pull the car out. I'd rather use just the fob, so this makes me sad

While I seldom use Summon now, I will personally use it even less if it becomes an app-only capability. Unlike so many people today, I am not one that keeps my iPhone plastered to my body 100% of the time, and generally don't have it with me when detailing my MS -- which is when I more typically use Summon to pull MS out and back into my garage. I do OTOH always have my FOB when I'm driving or attending to my MS.

I've been a proponent of having a "finger on the button to keep it moving" since before Summon first came out -- as that is how my previous BMW and MBZ convertibles dealt with moving their hardtops up and down -- both remotely via the FOB or even when sitting in the cockpit using the hardwired switch. To me, it was the best safety option in case a remote battery died or something else failed mid-operation. What Tesla did with it's original "2-Step ON/1-Step OFF" Summon FOB implementation made more sense given the MS sensor array was there to do an auto stop if need be, but as some have reported here on TMC, it isn't full-proof. As discussed elsewhere, there are even more points of possible communication failure when the App (and sorry, even more if Apple Watch) is used in that process. So, if Tesla makes the change as described by the OP, it seems to me to be the right thing to do -- but if the FOB is not retained as Tesla's primary option to use Summon, IMHO Tesla will have made a big mistake.

BertL said:

I've been a proponent of having a "finger on the button to keep it moving" since before Summon first came out -- "

"it seems to me to be the right thing to do -- but if the FOB is not retained as Tesla's primary option to use Summon, IMHO Tesla will have made a big mistake."

Click to expand...

+1 BertL, I totally agree. Though I have used Summon in the wild only a few times, it's obvious to me that you cannot use it without vigilance. A simple solution and very reasonable. Though many have bashed Consumer Reports for their reporting on the Model S, I seem them as real advocates, almost fanboys for Tesla's car.

Just making a great car even greater as far as I am concerned.....

A problem I experienced is using the app on Android while using summon and the car was moving the app crashed and the car kept moving. Luckily I had the key fob in my pocket and stopped the car. If I didn't have the key fob also handy I wonder what would have happened??

modelx007 said:

A problem I experienced is using the app on Android while using summon and the car was moving the app crashed and the car kept moving. Luckily I had the key fob in my pocket and stopped the car. If I didn't have the key fob also handy I wonder what would have happened??

Click to expand...

In theory I assume what would have happened is it would have continued to move until it reached the maximum distance it is allowed to go (39 ft?) or the sensors detected an object and it stopped as a result. Am I missing something?

Mike

NOLA_Mike said:

In theory I assume what would have happened is it would have continued to move until it reached the maximum distance it is allowed to go (39 ft?) or the sensors detected an object and it stopped as a result. Am I missing something?

Mike

Click to expand...

Only missing the fact that the sensors don't seem to detect certain types of objects as demonstrated in the Consumer Reports video (bag on the ground in front, bicycle). As I mentioned above and others have confirmed we need to keep the fob as an option as well.

PaulR said:

Only missing the fact that the sensors don't seem to detect certain types of objects as demonstrated in the Consumer Reports video (bag on the ground in front, bicycle). As I mentioned above and others have confirmed we need to keep the fob as an option as well.

Click to expand...

Welp, if the sensors don't detect the object then I think you can assume it will keep going until it reaches 39 ft. (running over or into whatever it didn't detect).

I'm not trying to be defensive or difficult, I just think we can guess with some certainty what will happen if you don't have the key fob or the ability to stop it via the app.

NOLA_Mike said:

In theory I assume what would have happened is it would have continued to move until it reached the maximum distance it is allowed to go (39 ft?) or the sensors detected an object and it stopped as a result. Am I missing something?

Mike

Click to expand...

This was my concern when I read the subject of this thread. First, my S works much better with the fob than with my iPhone. Don't know why, but it does. Second, my concern was if I have to stop summon FAST, I can only assume the fob is going to be faster and more reliable. If my car goes the full 39' because of a drop in communication while coming out of my garage, it's going down a good hill in to the neighbors yard.

- - - Updated - - -

PaulR said:

Only missing the fact that the sensors don't seem to detect certain types of objects as demonstrated in the Consumer Reports video (bag on the ground in front, bicycle). As I mentioned above and others have confirmed we need to keep the fob as an option as well.

Click to expand...

And yet I can't get my S back in to the garage with summon over the 1" concrete lip...

PatD said:

This was my concern when I read the subject of this thread. First, my S works much better with the fob than with my iPhone. Don't know why, but it does. Second, my concern was if I have to stop summon FAST, I can only assume the fob is going to be faster and more reliable. If my car goes the full 39' because of a drop in communication while coming out of my garage, it's going down a good hill in to the neighbors yard.

- - - Updated - - -



And yet I can't get my S back in to the garage with summon over the 1" concrete lip...

Click to expand...

Same here - mine will roll off the driveway and into the neighbors yard. I don't ever want to see that.

And, mine won't get over the concrete rise into the garage either.

NOLA_Mike said:

In theory I assume what would have happened is it would have continued to move until it reached the maximum distance it is allowed to go (39 ft?) or the sensors detected an object and it stopped as a result. Am I missing something?

Mike

Click to expand...

I'm sure that's the case. For me, my driveway is shorter than 39' so trusting that as a stopping point isn't good -- and as others have found, there are blindspots with the parking sensors, e.g. for low-lying and thinner objects including some bicycles, etc. I just won't trust today's sensor array unless I'm also part of the decision making.

Yep, I too have learned to rely on the fob rather than the app.

Fortunately, I would bet that Tesla would keep the fob summon functionality as they seem to always have added functionality to the fob rather than removing it (e.g. charge port door opening...)

Also, I don't believe that Windows phones have the app as of now so they can't rely on everyone having an app or having their phone on them all the time (as BertL mentioned above).

Also, it's doesn't require further programing to keep the fob except to make it where you have to keep the fob pressed. Based on the comments above we should know pretty quickly what they will do.

Wouldn't be the first time Tesla has given functionality and then taken it away...

Hmmm. I would hope that if they go down this path, they still let the fob be used to send an instant "cancel" to Summon. The app is FAR too laggy for the kind of time-sensitive "stop" signal needed at times. There is just too much delay to go from your phone, to Tesla's servers, then back out to the car versus the fob going direct to the car.

Limiting 'summon' to the app would be stupid. If they add the dead-man switch in the app, they should add it to the fob, too. The fob is more reliable and responsive than the app. What if the app crashes? What if you are in a garage or other area with poor or no cell phone coverage? What if you're using summon and the app crashes or you lose cell phone connectivity?

I hate it when the "safety police" get involved (in just about anything), I'm a grown adult able to purchase a $70k+ car, let me make my own decisions (and let me be liable for my bad decisions). It's not high school kids buying/using this car (of course there are some).