Tesla is promoting its "Smart Summon" as a prelude to autonomous driving even as some owners express frustration with the feature
Tesla is promoting its "Smart Summon" as a prelude to autonomous driving even as some owners express frustration with the feature AFP / Mark RALSTON

Consumer Reports (CR) this week criticized the Smart Summon auto parking system in Tesla vehicles, calling the feature "glitchy." Smart Summon allows Tesla vehicles to move around parking lots and driveways, without a human behind the wheel.

CR said that the Smart Summon system "works only intermittently, depending on the car's readings of the surroundings. The system is designed to work only in private parking lots, but sometimes it seemed confused about where it was. In one case, the system worked on one section of a private lot, but in another part of the lot it mistakenly detected that it was on a public road and shut itself down."

CR added that customers are paying thousands of dollars to "participate in a kind of science experiment" and that they are not getting "fully-tested, consumer technology."

The Smart Summon feature is a part of Tesla's new V10 software. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Friday the vehicle's full self-driving software will increase by $1,000 on Nov. 1 due to Smart Summon's release.

Although Tesla is still experimenting with self-driving software, Musk hopes that one day Tesla vehicles can be used as robotaxis that can ferry passengers around without the need for a driver.

If Tesla is able to establish a successful robotaxi service, Musk has said that consumer prices for Tesla cars are likely to increase due to supply and demand.

All Tesla vehicles being produced since October 2016 have had self-driving software installed.

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