If you’re looking for a car that offers some great semi-autonomous driving features then you must check out the Tesla Model S. Late last year it got a software update which enabled the Autopilot self-driving features, and yesterday the company released software update 7.1 for the car which adds a feature called Summon that makes it possible for the Model S to park itself inside your garage.
The Summon feature is particularly useful in parking the car in tight spaces where it might be difficult to enter or exit from the driver-side door, such as a one-car garage. You just need to press and hold the center button on the key fob until the hazard lights start flashing and then click the trunk button which then lets the Model S drive by itself into that spot.
If you have a HomeLink-equipped garage door the car is going to communicate with it and automatically open and close the door as it parks itself in the garage. Summon works the other way around too so you can have the car ready and out of the garage when you leave for work in the morning.
Tesla hasn’t enabled the Summon feature by default as it’s in beta right now, drivers have to go to the Driver Assistance menu in Settings to enable it manually. Several other features have been added in this software update as well. Its Autopark feature now supports perpendicular parking as well, previously it could only handle parallel parking.
The company has also made some tweaks to Autopilot features after videos of drivers being reckless started surfacing, the Autosteer feature is now restricted if it’s being enabled on roads with a central divider or residential streets. It’s also going to cap speeds 5mph over the limit. The software update has also improved lane guidance for Autopilot particularly near highway exit and entry ramps.