Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced back in November last year that the company was working on an advanced version of its Summon feature. The feature will allow the car to drive to the owner’s phone location and follow them “like a pet” if they hold down the Summon button in the Tesla app. He has now revealed that this feature should be released in a few weeks.
Musk was asked today about a status update for this feature on Twitter. He replied that the feature is going through final validation and regulatory approval. It’s going to be released to early access program owners in a few weeks.
He did add that the Summon+ feature may not be offered in all markets that Tesla sells its vehicles as the company has been “getting some regulatory pushback.” He didn’t clarify the markets where regulators are seemingly giving Tesla a hard time over this feature.
The Summon+ feature will be compatible with all Tesla vehicles that have been made in the past two years. It relies on the car’s Autopilot system for this functionality. In its current form, the Summon feature lets owners park their vehicles in tight spots without needing anyone behind the wheel.
Musk said back in November that Summon+ will let owners drive their car from the phone remotely “like a big RC car” provided there’s line of sight (pointing phone at the car, essentially).
Going through final validation & regulatory approval. Probably releases to early access program owners in a few weeks. It’s trippy!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 10, 2019