After an over-the-air software update, a Tesla owner in Nova Scotia, Canada, recently experienced a significant problem with his car. After Tesla’s most recent firmware upgrade damaged the “Summon” feature, Jamie, the owner, discovered his vehicle stuck in the little alleyway between his house and his neighbor’s, according to Electrek. Jamie used to rely on this capability to remotely navigate his car in and out of confined locations, but it is now worthless and displays error messages such as “cannot find clear path to pin” or “stopped due to unexpected error.”
This incident highlights a recurring challenge with Tesla’s frequent updates: while they aim to improve the user experience, they can sometimes disrupt essential functions, leaving owners unexpectedly stranded. Just last month, Tesla introduced an update called “Actually Smart Summon,” an upgrade to the Summon feature intended to improve its reliability. However, despite the name, the feature remains unreliable, limited to controlled environments like parking lots or driveways. In fact, just last week, a driverless Tesla using the feature collided with a parked car in a mall parking lot, continuing even after impact.
Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk announced in 2022 that the company’s autonomous driving systems would rely solely on camera sensors rather than LiDAR or radar, distancing the company from industry standards. With this shift, Tesla reintroduced a “smart” version of Summon, yet it seems far from polished. After Jamie’s ordeal, which involved crawling through his trunk to drive the car to a nearby service center, Tesla’s staff could replicate the issue but couldn’t offer a rollback or fix timeline. Jamie’s case underlines Tesla’s challenges, from unreliable tech updates to well-documented customer service gaps — issues it must address as it moves toward more ambitious goals like launching an autonomous ride-hailing service.
