Consumer Reports has been testing Tesla’s latest ‘Autopilot’ update (v7.1) since its unveiling last month and especially the new feature called ‘Summon’, which allows Tesla owners to remotely move their vehicle without anyone in it.
The magazine uncovered a small safety concern during testings, which Tesla will fix in an update this week.
The Summon feature can be activated with the keyfob or the Tesla app and owners have to monitor the car while it moves in case you’d need to stop the process foe safety reasons. Even though Tesla’s cars are equipped with auto emergency breaking, the system is not perfect, which is why Tesla asks to monitor the summoning process and also what prompted Consumer Reports’ concern that if you drop the key or the phone you wouldn’t be able to stop the car from hitting an object.
The magazine quickly notified Tesla of their concern. The automaker acknowledged the problem and plans to introduce an update this week in order for the Summon feature to only be enabled via the app with a new constraint of having to keep contact with the phone in order for the summoning process to continue.
It will be interesting to see how the update affects the Remote S app which already bypasses some of the existing constraints with the Summon feature and even allows it to be used with an Apple Watch.
Auto Test Director Jake Fisher explains the concern and its experience dealing with Tesla over the issue:
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