U.S. auto safety regulators have ended an investigation into Tesla’s remote parking feature, known as “Actually Smart Summon,” after crashes were found to be rare, low-speed and non-serious.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in an update Friday that closing the investigation does not certify that there are no safety-related deficiencies and that it may reopen the investigation.
The remote parking feature, released in the September 2024 software update, allows owners to use the Tesla app to direct the vehicle to drive itself at low speeds using only the car’s camera. This release was notable at the time because previous versions of Smart Summon also used ultrasonic sensors, but they are no longer included in new Tesla cars.
NHTSA began an investigation in January 2025 after receiving reports of dozens of crashes related to the “Actually Smart Summon” feature. Our research shows that less than 1% of millions of Summon sessions result in an incident. Minor property damage typically occurred, such as hitting gates, parked cars, and bollards.
The report also said there were “no reported incidents involving injuries to vulnerable road users, fatalities, or significant property damage, as evidenced by airbag deployment or vehicle towing.”
NHTSA has found that in many cases, either the person using the app or the system is unable to fully detect their surroundings due to limited visibility of the app’s camera view. Some incidents were caused by snow obscuring the camera, but the system was unable to detect it.
According to NHTSA, Tesla has issued numerous software updates to improve the camera’s obstacle detection and object recognition.
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