Tesla updated its summon feature. Now this owner can’t get to his car.
Tesla recently sent out an update to its vehicle “summon” feature – which it calls Actually Smart Summon – and as a result, one Tesla owner can no longer use his car.
For years and years, Tesla has touted a “summon” feature, allowing owners to move their cars remotely.
It started off with simple forward/backward movement, but then Tesla promised a “smart” summon which would be able to navigate through parking lots, and even be able to drive coast-to-coast all on its own to pick you up on the other side of the country.
Needless to say – and much like Tesla’s famed Full Self-Driving feature – some of these features haven’t been fully implemented yet. There was a smart summon feature active for some time on vehicles equipped with radar, but when Tesla shifted to vision-only for autonomy tasks, the feature disappeared for some time.
But in September, Tesla finally rolled out Actually Smart Summon, promising to finally bring remote-driving ability to cars, as long as they are on private property (parking lots, long driveways and the like).
The system has shown some impressive uses so far, but is still limited to certain use cases (for example, I can’t use it for the one thing I’d use it for – swapping the position of vehicles from my driveway to the parking spot in front of my house on a low-traffic incredibly wide street, both because it’s a public road and because the system can’t handle the gentle slope of my driveway).
So even though the system is often used as a party trick, there are still people who find legitimate uses for features like these and have come to rely on them – but in the case of one Tesla owner from Nova Scotia, that reliance has turned sour with the most recent update, which broke the system and has left his car stuck in its parking spot for the last two weeks.
Tesla changed summon, now one owner’s car is stuck
We were contacted by Jamie, a Tesla owner in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a simple photo showing his interesting parking situation, which he’s been using for the last four and a half years successfully. In fact, he bought the car specifically for this feature as it’s the only way his parking spot would work, and he commonly gets comments from people wondering how he gets his car out of there.
Which was all fine, until a week or two ago. Upon receiving Tesla firmware version v12.5.4.1, something broke and his car will no longer move.
This version of the software did make changes to both Actually Smart Summon and the old “Dumb” summon. The latter is the system Jamie had been using all along.
Now, when he tries to use the function, it fails in any number of ways, as the car detects walls too close and aborts the move, even if he can visually confirm that the situation is safe. The car cycles through various error messages – “cannot find clear path to pin,” “autopilot temporarily degraded,” “stopped due to unexpected error,” and the like. He’s been able to get it to move some amount occasionally, but estimates it only works one out of every 20 tries or so, whereas it used to be 100% reliable.
Jamie said he tried to contact Tesla customer service three times, who were unable to provide help other than suggesting the default “two finger salute” software reset. They offered no ability to do a software rollback to a functioning version of the software.
He also contacted the local service center – which he managed to bring the car to by opening the trunk and crawling in through the whole car up to the driver’s seat, despite an ailing back which added more difficulty to this comical situation.
At the service center – where he said they were very helpful – they were able to confirm the existence of the problem by stacking boxes beside the car and showing that it wouldn’t move. But they couldn’t offer a rollback, and offered no timeline for a potential fix.
So, he drove the car home, parked it, plugged it in, and has mostly left it there. Now, he walks places instead of driving, though that that won’t remain an option as the Nova Scotian winter sets in. Street parking is also not really an option, as Halifax routinely bans overnight street parking when snow is expected, to allow for snow clearance.
He could charge elsewhere in town, but on level 2 that would require walking to and from a charger, potentially at odd hours, or driving a half hour outside town to the nearest supercharger. The best situation, of course, would be to use his parking spot and charger as he has for the last four and a half years, until this “fix” was applied.
Jamie figures that, while he’s certainly in a niche situation, among the millions of Tesla owners out there, there must be other owners who are seeing similar issues right now. While he’d like a fix for his own problem, he’s also concerned for other owners who could be seeing the same issue.
This isn’t the first time Tesla has suddenly rolled out changes that affected parking. In 2022, Tesla abruptly removed ultrasonic parking sensors from cars, claiming that it would move to a vision-only park assist system. This took about six months to roll out, and is still being improved over time, but surprised some buyers who bought cars expecting this common feature and didn’t receive it.
Electrek’s Take
We at Electrek occasionally get reports from individual customers who have individual problems, but we don’t always do articles for every one of them, especially if there’s some other solution available. We usually like to wait for a pattern to develop.
But this was such an interesting problem, and brings up an important point: it highlights one of the issues with rolling out new software updates, especially when it comes to autonomous driving, or really any other device that people rely on: it’s all well and good to have a feature that works most of the time, but if people rely on a feature, you need to ensure that it works every time.
And this is a relatively minor automation feature in the scheme of things. But it demonstrates the difficulty of automated driving tasks, where in order to receive acceptance, systems don’t need to just work most of the time, but all of the time. A true, driverless, level 5 system needs to be perfectly reliable, even in “niche” situations – and we can’t have software updates coming along and breaking functionality when there’s more at stake than just one person’s parking spot.
And a final note, we can sometimes solve problems simply by emailing an automaker’s communications department to ask them what’s going on. I’ve used this method before, and companies have been able to address an issue for the customer, solving the problem before it turns into bad press for them. Unfortunately, though, this is not possible with Tesla.
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Environment
EcoFlow members can save up to 65% on power stations while supporting disaster relief during the 2025 Member’s Festival
Portable power station specialist EcoFlow is kicking off its third annual Member’s Festival this month and is offering a unique new rewards program to those who become EcoFlow members. The 2025 EcoFlow Member’s Festival will offer savings of up to 65% for its participating customers, and a portion of those funds will be allocated toward rescue power solutions for communities around the globe through the company’s “Power for All” fund.
EcoFlow remains one of the industry leaders in portable power solutions and continues to trek forward in its vision to power a new tech-driven, eco-conscious future. Per its website:
Our mission from day one is to provide smart and eco-friendly energy solutions for individuals, families, and society at large. We are, were, and will continue to be a reliable and trusted energy companion for users around the world.
To achieve such goals, EcoFlow has continued to expand its portfolio of sustainable energy solutions to its community members, including portable power stations, solar generators, and mountable solar panels. While EcoFlow is doing plenty to support its growing customer base, it has expanded its reach by giving back to disaster-affected communities by helping bolster global disaster response efforts the best way it knows how– with portable power solutions.
EcoFlow and its members look to provide “Power for All”
Since 2023, EcoFlow has collaborated with organizations worldwide as part of its “Power for All” mission. This initiative aims to ensure access to reliable and timely power to disaster-affected communities across the globe, including rescue agencies, affected hospitals, and shelters, to support rescue and recovery efforts.
This fund most recently provided aid for communities affected by the recent Los Angeles wildfires, assistance to the Special Forces Charitable Trust (SFCT) in North Carolina following severe hurricanes, and support for non-profits engaged in hurricane preparedness in Florida and the Gulf Coast. Per Jodi Burns, CEO of the Special Forces Charitable Trust:
In the wake of devastating storms in Western North Carolina, reliable power was a critical need for the families we serve. Thanks to EcoFlow’s generous donation of generators, we were able to provide immediate relief, ensuring these families and their communities had access to power when they needed it most. We are so impressed with EcoFlow’s commitment to disaster response through their ‘Power for All’ program. It has made a tangible impact, and we are deeply grateful for their support and partnership in helping these families recover and rebuild.
In 2024, the US experienced 27 weather and climate events, each causing losses exceeding $1 billion, marking the second-highest annual total on record, according to National Centers for Environmental Information. The increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters underscore the critical need for reliable and timely power solutions during emergencies, much like EcoFlow and its members are helping provide through the “Power For All” initiative.
To support new and existing EcoFlow members, the company is celebrating its third annual Member’s Festival throughout April to offer a do-not-miss discount on its products and donate a portion of all sales to the “Power for All” fund to provide rescue power to those in need in the future. Learn how it all works below.
Save big and give back during the 2025 Member’s Festival
As of April 1st, you can now sign up to become an EcoFlow member to participate in the company’s exclusive 2025 Member Festival.
As a member, you can earn “EcoFlow Power Points” by completing tasks like registration, referrals, and product purchases and tracking your individual efforts toward disaster preparedness and recovery.
Beginning April 4, EcoFlow members will also be able to take advantage of exclusive discounts of up to 65% off select portable power stations, including the DELTA Pro Ultra, DELTA Pro 3, DELTA 2 Max, DELTA 3 Plus, RIVER 3 Plus, and more. However, these sale prices only last through April 25, so you’ll want to move quickly!
Click here to learn more about EcoFlow’s “Power for All” campaign. To register for EcoFlow’s 2025 Member Festival in the US, visit the EcoFlow website. To register as a member in Canada, visit here.
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Tesla is losing another top talent: its long-time head of software, David Lau, has reportedly told co-workers that he is exiting the automaker.
Tesla changed how the entire auto industry looks at software.
Before Tesla, it was an afterthought; user interfaces were rudimentary, and you had to go to a dealership to get a software update on your systems.
When Tesla launched the Model S in 2012, it all changed. Your car would get better through software updates like your phone, the large center display was responsive with a UI that actually made sense and was closer to an iPad experience than a car.
Tesla also integrated its software into its retail experience, service, and manufacturing.
David Lau deserves a lot of the credit for that.
He joined Tesla in 2012 as a senior manager of firmware engineering and quickly rose through the ranks. By 2014, he was promoted to director of firmware engineering and system integration, and in 2017, he became Vice President of software.
Lau listed the responsibilities of his team on his LinkedIn:
- Vehicle Software:
- Firmware for the powertrain, traction/stability control, HV electronics, battery management, and body control systems
- UI software and underlying Embedded Linux platforms
- Navigation and routing
- iOS and Android Mobile apps
- Distributed Systems:
- Server-side software and infrastructure that provides telemetry, diagnostics, over-the-air updates, and configuration/lifecycle management
- Data engineering and analytics platforms that power technical and business insights for an increasingly diverse set of customers across the company
- Diagnostic tools and fleet management, Manufacturing and Automation:
- Automation controls (PLC, robot)
- Server-side manufacturing execution systems that power all of Tesla’s production operations
- Product Security and Red Team for software, services, and systems across Tesla
Bloomberg reported today that Lau told his team he is leaving Tesla. The report didn’t include reasons for his stepping down.
Electrek’s Take
Twelve years at any company is a great run. At Tesla, it’s heroic. Congrats, David, on a great run. You undoubtedly had a significant impact on Tesla and software advancements in the broader auto industry.
He is another significant loss for Tesla, which has been losing a lot of top talent following a big wave of layoffs around this time last year.
I wonder who will take over. Michael Rizkalla, senior director of software engineering and vehicle firmware, is one of the most senior software engineers after Lau. He has been at Tesla for 7 years, and Tesla likes to promote within rather than hire outsiders.
There are also a lot of senior software execs working on AI at Tesla. Musk has been favoring them lately and he could fold Lau’s responsibilities under them.
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Kia’s electric SUVs are taking over. The EV3 is the best-selling retail EV in the UK this year, giving Kia its strongest sales start since it arrived 34 years ago. And it’s not just in the UK. Kia just had its best first quarter globally since it started selling cars in 1962.
Kia EV3 is the best-selling EV in the UK through March
In March, Kia sold a record nearly 20,000 vehicles in the UK, making it the fourth best-selling brand. It was also the second top-seller of electrified vehicles (EVs, PHEVs, and HEVs), accounting for over 55% of sales.
The EV3 remained the best-selling retail EV in the UK last month. Including the EV6, three-row EV9, and Niro EV, electric vehicles represented 21% of Kia’s UK sales in March.
Kia said the EV3 “started with a bang” in January, darting out as the UK’s most popular EV in retail sales. Through March, Kia’s electric SUV has held on to the crown. With the EV3 rolling out, Kia sold over 7,000 electric cars through March, nearly 50% more than in Q1 2024.
The EV3 was the best-selling retail EV in the UK in the first quarter and the fourth best-selling EV overall, including commercial vehicles.
Starting at £33,005 ($42,500), Kia said it’s the “brand’s most affordable EV yet.” It’s available with two battery packs, 58.3 kWh or 81.48 kWh, good for 430 km (270 miles) and 599 km (375 miles) of WLTP range, respectively.
With new EVs on the way, this could be just the start. Kia is launching several new EVs in the UK this year, including the EV4 sedan (and hatchback) and EV5 SUV. It also confirmed that the first PV5 electric vans will be delivered to customers by the end of the year.
Electrek’s Take
Globally, Kia sold a record 772,351 vehicles in the first quarter, its best since it started selling cars in 1962. With the new EV4, the brand’s first electric sedan and hatchback, launching this year, Kia looks to build on its momentum in 2025.
Kia has also made it very clear that it wants to be a global leader in the electric van market with its new Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV) business, starting with the PV5 later this year.
Earlier today, we learned Kia’s midsize electric SUV, the EV5, is the fourth best-selling EV in Australia through March, outselling every BYD vehicle (at least for now). The EV5 is rolling out to new markets this year, including Canada, the UK, South Korea, and Mexico. However, it will not arrive in the US.
For those in the US, there are still a few Kia EVs to look forward to. Kia is launching the EV4 globally, including in the US, later this year. Although no date has been set, Kia confirmed the EV3 is also coming. It’s expected to arrive in mid-2026.
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