Tesla is planning a significant update to their “Summon” feature on its cars that will let you drive your Tesla around like a colossal R/C car, but even in its current, more limited form, Summon is pretty useful. Watch how this guy in Wisconsin uses it to get out of receiving parking tickets in the most technologically advanced way possible, at least until he’s able to teleport his car.
Essentially, the current version of Summon lets you move the car up to 39 feet, forwards or backwards. It’s designed to let the car park itself into tight spots that are tricky to get into or out of. You know, like this:
You know what else this could be good for? Moving a car between empty parallel parking spots! That’s what D Shawn Kennedy, a Tesla owner in Janeville, Wisconsin, does to get around the throbbing metropolis of Janesville’s new two-hour limit rule on parking spots.
From his office window, Kennedy just commands his Tesla to move to a new spot every two hours:
I was not sure when I would use this feature… till today. @elonmusk @tesla pic.twitter.com/bC6rFt2SuW
— D Shawn Kennedy (@rarelyserious) October 31, 2018
Pretty sneaky.
Now, it won’t work if the spots are blocked, and, technically Tesla says to only use it on private property, but this is so satisfying I don’t think anyone at Tesla will complain. I know one employee isn’t.
I’m not even sure it’s illegal, really. Is it that much different than pushing the car from one spot to another from outside the car? Is that illegal? So far, I can’t find any reference that it is.
(via BoingBoing and others, so thanks!)