A new feature is reportedly being tested at Tesla that could enable its electric cars to find their own parking spot.
Dubbed “Reverse Summon”, the feature would form a part of the EV maker’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) suite and work in the opposite way to its Smart Sumon, which can be used to summon a car when you don’t want to walk all the way back to the car in a carpark.
If it comes to fruition, it would certainly be a useful feature – such as when it is raining and you’d rather be dropped off near the entrance to a shopping centre or office building next to an uncovered carpark.
According to the report, the Reverse Summon feature would come with three features, such as ordering the car to park “closest to the door”, “near cart returns”, or “end of the parking lot.”
It would differ from the current Autopark feature that can only be used when the driver is in the vehicle.
The report about the feature is unsubstantiated, having come via Reddit in a post by a person who says they are an acquaintance of a Tesla employee.
However, there was apparently enough gumption for it to be covered by NotaTeslaApp, a site that reports on everything Tesla.
They said that the feature is now with engineers at Tesla for testing bringing it closer to a wide release.
By the time it is released to cars with FSD, the feature may have a different name such as Smart Park, the person said.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.