Tesla’s Park Seek may find you a spot while you’re at the mall

There are few things more frustrating than trying to find an empty spot in a crowded parking lot. It can be frustrating and time-consuming, especially when small cars are hidden behind huge trucks. As cars become more autonomous, this frustration could be gone.

Tesla appears to be working on a feature called «Reverse summon» or «Park Seek», which could be added soon to its Full Self Driving Autopilot suite. Summon will pull out of a parking space and bring a car to you. Reverse Summon will drop you off and search for a place to park.

At Tesla’s AI Day, comments suggested that such a feature was in the works. It’s been added to the Autopilot page. Tesla explains that reaching your destination requires you to get out of your vehicle at the entrance. After entering «Park Seek mode», the car will find a parking spot while you do other things.

The Tesla app allows you to summon the car when you are done. This feature is already part of the Enhanced Autopilot suite. The car will automatically pull out and drive to where you are waiting. It’s like valet parking but you don’t have to give your keys to anyone.

Paril Jain (Manager of Autopilot Motion Planning at Tesla) stated that the company will add a parking lot stack to Full-Self Driving beta by the end of the year.

Jain stated that this would still mean you will need to sit in your car as it searches for a spot. Although it won’t get you out the car immediately upon your arrival, it will allow the car to do the heavy lifting.

Teslarati points out that there have been rumors that Tesla could offer three modes of self-parking. These include parking near the entrance, at the end of the lot, and in close proximity to a return area for shopping carts. It doesn’t matter if a Tesla can be summoned to your location.

Summon’s current form isn’t known for accuracy and Elon Musk said it’s «mostly just fun trick» at the moment. Summon’s current form is not known for its accuracy. This can be seen as a very harsh indictment of Summon, given how Tesla CEO Elon Musk loves to hype Tesla products. He claims that it will be «sublime», once Summon switches to one FSD stack.

Although no information has been released about when, it does mean that updates will be available in the future. We will only know when a driver-free Park Seek Mode is available. Keep calm and patient and watch what Tesla does next.