"Smart Summon" feature leads to traffic accident, US regulatory agency to launch investigation into Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US)

Electric car manufacturer Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) is facing an investigation by the US traffic safety regulatory agency related to its "Advanced Summon (AS)" feature. The investigation involves approximately 2.585 million Tesla, Inc. vehicles, including Model S and X from 2016 to 2025, Model 3 from 2017 to 2025, and Model Y equipped with full self-driving software from 2020 to 2025. Summon and Advanced Summon are features on some Tesla, Inc. vehicles that allow users to remotely move the vehicle to themselves or another specified location using a mobile app. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received one complaint alleging a collision caused by the Summon feature and is reviewing at least three similar media reports involving similar accidents. All four accidents involved Tesla, Inc. vehicles running the Summon system failing to detect obstacles or parked vehicles, resulting in collisions. ODI has initiated a preliminary evaluation to investigate the functionality of Advanced Summon as it relates to the subject and similar collisions, including the operation and on-site performance of the system in vehicles equipped with FSD (full self-driving) and vehicles provided for free trial use. As early as October of last year, NHTSA launched another investigation on 2.4 million Tesla, Inc. vehicles with FSD software installed following four accident reports. In one such accident, a pedestrian was fatally struck by a Tesla, Inc. vehicle.