Federal safety officials announced Monday they have wrapped up their investigation into Tesla’s remote vehicle summoning technology, which had been under scrutiny across approximately 2.59 million cars nationwide.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration examined Tesla’s “actually smart summon” capability, which enables drivers to use their smartphones to remotely guide their vehicles short distances through parking lots and on private property while watching the process.
Safety investigators determined the technology was mainly connected to slow-speed collisions that caused minimal property damage, finding no reports of injuries or deaths linked to the feature.
Tesla has not yet provided a statement regarding the investigation’s closure.
According to NHTSA findings, most reported problems involved cars hitting stationary objects like other parked vehicles, garage doors, or entrance gates. These incidents typically occurred at the beginning of summon operations when drivers had poor visibility or limited awareness of surroundings.
Federal officials stated that the infrequent nature and minor severity of these incidents, combined with Tesla’s corrective measures, did not justify additional regulatory action currently.
The agency emphasized that ending this investigation does not mean they’ve determined no safety defects exist, and they maintain authority to pursue further measures if circumstances change.
Tesla resolved the identified problems by releasing multiple wireless software upgrades designed to enhance obstacle recognition, improve detection of blocked cameras, and better handle moving objects like gates.
The software improvements also targeted reducing malfunctions caused by weather conditions such as snow or moisture interfering with camera systems.
Last month, regulators elevated their separate examination of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology to a more serious “engineering analysis” phase, which often leads to vehicle recalls. That expanded investigation now covers roughly 3.2 million vehicles.
This development underscores ongoing regulatory oversight of Tesla’s automated driving and assistance technologies amid concerns about accidents, visibility challenges, and whether these systems properly alert drivers during real-world use.
In a related decision last month, the agency dismissed a petition calling for recalls of 2.26 million Tesla vehicles over unintended acceleration issues related to pedal confusion, stating they found no evidence of safety defects.
