Few things are more frustrating than circling a crowded parking lot in search of an empty spot. It’s annoying and time consuming, especially when smaller cars are hiding behind giant trucks. But as cars gain more autonomy, that frustration may become a thing of the past.
Tesla appears to be working on a feature called “Reverse Summon” or “Park Seek,” which could be added to its full self-driving autopilot suite in the near future. So while Summon has a car that pulls out of space and goes to you, Reverse Summon will see it pick you up and go look for a place to stop it.
Comments during Tesla’s recent AI day indicated that this feature is on the way, and has now been added to the automaker Autopilot official page (Opens in a new tab). In the fully autonomous driving capability section, Tesla notes that getting to your destination means getting out of your car at the entrance. The car will then enter ‘Park Seek Mode’ and will find a place to park while you do what you want to do.
When that’s done, the car, a feature already available as part of the Enhanced Autopilot suite, can be recalled from the Tesla app. The car will pull out on its own and roam wherever it is waiting for you. It feels like you have valet parking, but without having to hand the keys to someone else.
According to Barrell Jain, Tesla’s Autopilot Planning Director, the company plans to add a “car park” to its fully autonomous driving beta before the end of this year.
However, based on what Jain said, this will still require you to sit in the car while looking for a parking space. It doesn’t get you out of the car as soon as you arrive, but at least it means the car will do the heavy lifting.
Teslarate (Opens in a new tab) He notes that past rumors suggested that there could be three different modes of Tesla’s self-parking system. They include parking near the entrance, near the end of the parking lot and close to the shopping cart return area. Although if you could actually summon a Tesla to your location, it wouldn’t make much difference where they were able to park.
Then again summoning in its current form is not known for its accuracy, and even Elon Musk (Opens in a new tab) He admitted it’s “mostly just a fun hoax” at the moment. Given how eager the CEO is to promote Tesla’s products, this can be seen as a scathing indictment of the recall feature. But he claims it will be “cool” once Summon moves to a single FSD package.
There has been no word on when this will happen, but that at least means that updates can and will be released in the future. As for the driver-free Park Seek, only time will tell when that arrives. So sit back and be patient, and see what Tesla does.
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