Teslas Will Soon Park Themselves When Arriving at Destination - Smarter Summon and Driverless Autopark Coming

FSD will soon automatically park when arriving

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With the Spring Update and FSD V12.4 around the corner, Elon Musk shared that Actually Smart Summon and Banish (Autopark) are coming soon, along with some other updates to the new vision-based Auto Park.

FSD to Automatically Park at Destination

On FSD v12.3.6, which now includes the new Vision-based Autopark for vehicles with ultrasonic sensors, users have to manually search for and select a parking spot if they want to use Autopark. However, according to a post from Musk, FSD will automatically enter Autopark mode upon arriving at its destination. This will essentially combine the current FSD capabilities with Autopark and add the ability for the vehicle to traverse a parking lot looking for an empty space.

Banish Autopark Coming Soon

Smarter Summon and Banish Autopark, with the ability to send the car to and from a parking space without anyone in the car, will be coming soon, as per Musk’s recent X post. 

Banish Autopark, previously known as Reverse Summon, is expected to include various parking options, such as “closest to the door”, “near cart returns”, or “end of the parking lot”. This would drop the owner off at the entrance to a location while having the vehicle automatically find a parking spot and then park itself. At least that is Tesla’s full vision, as Musk has talked about before. It’s not clear whether the Banish Autopark feature, will actually include all of these capabilities in v1, or if Tesla will slowly add more features to it. What we know now is that Tesla is working on having the vehicle park itself without a driver inside. It may simply be an extension of the Autopark we have today, where the driver finds a parking spot, selects it, and then exits the vehicle as it parks itself. This could be exceptionally useful for parking in tight spaces.

Actually Smart Summon Coming to Vehicles Without USS

Smarter Summon on the other hand, is an update to the existing Smart Summon functionality that is currently available on cars that have ultrasonic sensors (USS). Actually Smart Summon is expected to bring that functionality to Vision-only cars as well.

In traditional Tesla fashion, Tesla is building upon what it already has. Tesla first released Summon, which allowed the vehicle to move only forward or backward in a straight line. Tesla then released Smart Summon which allowed the vehicle to move toward a target, navigating obstacles on the way, and soon we’ll have an even more capable version of Smart Summon.

Release Date

Musk has previously mentioned that upcoming updates to FSD V12, will have various focuses on improvements. V12.4 will focus on user comfort, while v12.5 will focus on more complex scenarios.

These next two major FSD versions will probably take us to the end of the year. Banish Autopark will probably be arriving closer to v12.4 as a comfort improvement, while Actually Smart Summon, which relies upon the ability to reverse, may arrive in FSD V12.5.

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Tesla Releases Update 2024.26 – Automations for Climate and Charging, Weather and New Music Services

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Tesla recently launched 2024.26 to employees, and this update is packed with so many features, that we may as well call it the Summer Update.

The update has been pushed to “wave 1” employee testers, who usually receive feature updates ahead of time to test for bugs and other issues.

This update has brought some hotly requested features, so let’s go over some of them in detail.

Updated Climate Screen

There is a redesigned climate control panel, which will allow users to “select their comfort settings with ease”. We haven’t seen any images of the updated climate control panel just yet, but we’re scheduling to be built in and have all features on one screen instead of having the front and back seats separated.

Fan Speed Adjustment during Phone Calls

On 2024.26, with climate controls on Auto, fan speed may automatically lower to reduce the sound of ambient noise during a phone call. A similar feature was previously introduced last year in 2023.26, so we expect this to be an improvement to the same feature.

Navigate to Sub-Destinations

As part of the bigger navigation updates coming soon, Tesla has added another feature that uses the updated Google Places API. You will now be able to navigate to sub-destinations, including specific terminals at airports.

This is a change that will be absolutely necessary for Robotaxi but is also extremely helpful for drivers trying to figure out the monstrous interchanges and signs that most modern airports have. Hopefully, this integration continues to be expanded, and we receive additional sub-destinations such as specific parking lots or floors for parking garages, enabling users to park their vehicles as close as possible to the relevant mall or building entrance.

The sub-destination menu mockup preview

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Schedule Charge & Conditioning

With the newly revamped climate menu, Tesla is adding features that have been requested for quite some time. This includes the ability for more granular control of scheduled charging and preheating/precooling options – including scheduling one-off or specific days and times of the week for charging or vehicle conditioning. And it’s all location dependent!

This same feature will also arrive in the Tesla app, which means users will be able to manage all their locations, charge start and stop times, and climate start times as needed.

More Music Services, Games, Weather and More

Music and Weather

Tesla also added a few other awesome features to this update, including YouTube Music and Amazon Music, as well as an updated Weather widget, featuring a weather report and Air Quality Index. Read about it here.

Parental Controls

Tesla has also added Parental Controls to its feature package – focused on safer driving by limiting vehicle top speed, and acceleration, as well as enforcing safety features. Read about the details on this one here.

Games

Tesla has updated some of the games in the Arcade, including an update for Battle of Polytopia and Vampire Survivors, two of its most popular games. Additionally, support has been added for TeslaMic, which works with the updated Caraoke Mode. The TeslaMic may also soon become available for purchase in North America when this update goes to customers – if it matches the Chinese store price, it will cost approximately $160 USD ($220 CAD).

Zoom Meetings

With this release, Zoom meetings will now resize to full screen when the car enters Park, or default to full screen if the car is already parked.

Additionally, you’ll now be able to log in by scanning a QR code on a device that’s already logged into Zoom! That’s a feature we hope comes to more of Tesla’s third-party integrations.

Release Date

Given that it just went to wave 1 employees today, and will most likely need some minimum bug fixing, this could be at least a week or two before it hits customer vehicles. If you’re on the FSD branch, don’t expect to receive this update for a while, as people on FSD V12.3.6 (2024.14.X), are waiting for FSD V12.4.2 on 2024.15.10.

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Tesla Adds Parental Controls for Safer Teen Driving in Update 2024.26

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In Tesla update 2024.26, which is now in employee testing, Tesla is launching a set of parental controls. The parental controls allow you to limit certain vehicle options for teens or other drivers.

The new restricted controls are focused on safer driving. They will limit the vehicle's top speed, acceleration, enforce safety features and even notify you if the vehicle is driven late at night.

Reducing Speed & Acceleration

One of the biggest features of the new parental controls is the ability for you to set a maximum speed and reduce the vehicle's acceleration. Tesla already included a max speed option that could be enforced in Valet Mode, but with this update, it could now be enforced for other drivers as well. Once a profile is tagged as a restricted driver, then they will need to enter a PIN code to modify or turn off the max speed. You will also be able to limit the acceleration mode to Chill, meaning that the vehicle's horsepower and torque are limited.

Enforcing Safety Features

With parental controls, the owner could also force specific safety features to remain on. These features include Speed Limit Warning, Automatic Emergency Braking and Forward Collision Warning. Although these features aren't a nuisance, parental controls prevent them from being turned off accidentally.

Notifications When Driving at Night

The last feature Tesla is adding to parental controls in update 2024.26 is the ability for the vehicle's owner to receive notifications if the vehicle is driven past a certain time. For example, if you set a curfew of midnight, then you'll receive a notification if the vehicle starts driving past this time.

Set Up Parental Controls

You'll be able to set up parental controls through the Tesla app or in the vehicle. In the vehicle, navigate to Controls > Safety and scroll to Parental Controls.

In the Tesla app, the feature is expected to be under the Security & Safety section, where you can already limit the top speed.

Any driver profiles that are limited will have a "training wheels" icon next to the driver's name.

Beyond Teen Drivers

It's possible that the new restricted profiles may also be able to useful if you rent your vehicle on Turo or another rental service as well. While you may not want to receive notifications for night driving, you may want to prevent drivers from going over 100 MPH, or from turning off important safety features.

Be sure to check out the other features of update 2024.26 such as YouTube Music, Amazon Music and others.

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