[imagesource: Reddit / u/smiteme]

Elon Musk has described the ‘Smart Summon’ in Tesla cars as the company’s “most viral feature ever”.

Indeed, the automatic parking feature has helped Tesla go viral to some extent, but probably not in the way Musk envisioned.

Yeah, he definitely did not expect one of the Teslas to crash into a $3,5 million private jet while looking for its owner.

A video is doing the rounds, originally from Reddit, showing how the Smart Summon feature went awry, allowing the Tesla vehicle to slowly crash into the most expensive jet at an event sponsored by aircraft manufacturer Cirrus at Felts Field in Spokane, Washington.

The Verge reported:

According to the poster, the Tesla owner was using the “Smart Summon” feature that enables a Tesla vehicle to leave a parking space and navigate around obstacles to its owner. Using just the Tesla app on your smartphone, you can “summon” your car to you from a maximum distance of 200 feet, as long as the car is within your line of sight.

The Reddit user said they also own a Tesla Model Y but were not the “poor soul (with poor decision making abilities) who summoned his Tesla around several expensive aircraft – only to crash it into the most expensive one ($3,500,000)!”

Awkward:

lol someone tried to summon their Tesla via autopilot at an aviation trade show and it crashed into a 3 million dollar jet pic.twitter.com/ae1Th49YsG

— waffle party planner (@Phylan) April 22, 2022

Videos of near-crashes or confused, slow-moving Tesla cars using Slow Summon started popping up almost as soon as the feature was released in 2019.

There have been near-crashes with speeding SUVs:

So, @elonmusk – My first test of Smart Summon didn’t go so well. @Tesla #Tesla #Model3 pic.twitter.com/yC1oBWdq1I

— Roddie Hasan – راضي حسن (@eiddor) September 28, 2019

As well as incidents of “front bumper damage”:

Soday 1 with V10 Smart Summon was working beautifully. But someone didn’t notice my M3 and made a front bumper damage. We will claim our insurances but who’s fault do you guys think it’ll be ? Should I present this videos ? @teslaownersSV @Model3Owners @LikeTeslaKim @TesLatino pic.twitter.com/fhSA78oD6C

— 🇺🇦 David F Guajardo 🚀 (@DavidFGuajardo) September 28, 2019

And a Model 3 that “ran into the side of [a] garage”:

Be forewarned @Tesla @elonmusk Enhanced summon isn’t safe or production ready. Tried in my empty drive way. Car went forward and ran into the side of garage. Love the car but saddened. #Tesla #TeslaModel3 pic.twitter.com/tRZ88DmXAW

— AB (@abgoswami) September 28, 2019

Meanwhile, Tesla has released a newer version of the feature, allowing owners to summon their cars from a further distance and in more complex parking environments.

Alright, then.

[source:verge]