Tesla is one of the most innovative companies in the world, with their electric cars poised to sweep across the world with their sleek looks, amazing features and futuristic possibilities. However, they may be taking it one step further with their latest rollout feature; allowing car owners to remotely control their cars through their phones.

In a tweet posted on 1 September 2018, Tesla CEO and genius Elon Musk announced that Tesla Autopilot’s Summon will be beefed-up to now allow vehicles to drive around parking lots, find empty spots and read parking signs. Dubbed the Smart Summon, your car will navigate more complex environments and parking spaces, maneuvering around objects as necessary to come to find you.

"Car will drive to your phone location & follow you like a pet if you hold down summon button on Tesla app," he wrote, without giving any further details. Musk even says that owners will be able to control their cars like RC cars through their phones. Musk added that they could make the feature work from long distances, but the line of sight requirement is for safety.


This comes on the heels of promises to majorly improve the Tesla Autopilot’s Summon feature, as part of their promised new features under an ‘Enhanced Autopilot’ package that it has been selling for US$5,000.

Most models of Tesla’s cars have a basic Summon capability, which allows the driver to tell the car to inch forward or backwards from outside the vehicle using a smartphone. This is useful for squeezing into tight parking spaces.

But Tesla has always claimed that one ambitious vision, a vision where you just get out of your car and the vehicle will find a parking spot, park itself, and then come and pick the driver up later. Tesla has been promoting these features on its Autopilot page for more than two years, even though they weren't available.

Tesla seems to finally be taking a step toward the vision the company first planned out in 2016. Still, it still stands to be seen exactly how the feature will work in real life, and what sorts of limitations and hazards it may cause on the roads. Still, it’s going to be an exciting few months ahead for the automotive world.