The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating crashes involving Tesla’s Actually Smart Summon feature, which the car company released in September. In a report summary, the NHTSA said its Office of Defects Investigation has opened a preliminary evaluation based on a crash complaint it received, as well as, “at least 3 media reports of apparently similar crashes.” The NHTSA says the crashes happened when the feature failed to detect posts or parked vehicles.
The NHTSA estimates that nearly 2.6 million Tesla vehicles, including Model S, Model 3 and Model Y autos with what Tesla calls full self-driving, could be affected. The agency said Tesla hasn’t reported any incidents related to the feature itself.
Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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The Actually Smart Summon feature is designed to let a Tesla vehicle move to a different location, park itself or pick up a driver via remote app command. It’s a version of a feature that’s been around since 2017 and that’s been investigated before.
A key difference in the new version of Summon is that it now relies on cameras with what the company calls Tesla Vision technology, instead of ultrasonic sensors and radar, a shift Tesla has been making since 2021.
When Actually Smart Summon was released, Tesla warned that the feature and Dumb Summon (moving a car forward and backward remotely) shouldn’t be used everywhere.
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Actually Smart Summon and Dumb Summon “should only be used in parking lots or driveways,” the company said in the release notes. “Keep an eye on your car and its surroundings at all times. Stay vigilant, especially around the fast and the furious (people, bikes, and other cars). You are still responsible for your vehicle, so watch as it drives and stop it if necessary.”
The NHTSA in December proposed the formation of a voluntary national program for automakers to evaluate and oversee vehicles with automatic driving systems.
“Safe, transparent, and responsible development is critical for this technology to be trusted by the public and reach its full potential,” the NHTSA said at the time. This followed news in October that it was investigating Tesla’s full self-driving system.