How Do You Use Tesla Autopark?
Hannah DeWitt
· 4 min read
Tesla
has a new automatic valet system. Designed for use by Model 3 and Model Y
owners, it lets the car autonomously find parking space and park at them without you even being in the car. A decade ago, such a feature would've been rather farfetched, but Tesla is making it a reality—it also promises increasingly advanced tech in the automotive industry. Being relatively new, the
Tesla Autopark
feature doesn't make your Tesla entirely autonomous. You might be required to supervise the vehicle's maneuvers and intervene whenever necessary.
How to use Tesla Autopark
Tesla's Autopark uses data from the cameras, ultrasonic sensors, and
GPS
to simplify parking. You need to monitor the touch screen when trying to locate a parking space. When Autopark detects a space, a parking icon will appear on the screen. You need to be driving slow because Autopark detects spaces on perpendicular and parallel lots when the vehicle moves at 15 mph and 10 mph, respectively.
Drive closer to the spot and assess its safety. Next, move the car forward and stop at least a car’s length away. Release the wheel, set the car into reverse, and tap “Start Autopark” on the touch display. Once parking is complete, a pop-up message will appear on the touchscreen saying "Complete." To pause parking, press the brake pedal, and hit Resume on the display to continue parking.
Tesla Autopark doesn't work everywhere. It might not operate in the following circumstances: sloped roads (since it's designed for flat roads), inclement weather such as heavy rain, fog, or snow as it inhibits the sensors, or during an electrical fault that interferes with the sensors.
Tesla Autopark is not fully autonomous
Once you leave your car, it can maneuver through a parking lot and park itself using what Tesla calls "reverse summon." However, when you want the car to come to you from its parking space, it uses "smart summon."
It's an excellent feature that, if refined, could add even more value to users. At the moment, Tesla Autopark is not
fully autonomous
; you'll need to be on alert and monitor the car. Tesla designed Autopark for safety, so the car would be quick to stop in case of any obstruction. However, sometimes the car doesn’t know how to proceed from there. That becomes a problem in a high-traffic parking lot because such pauses can block traffic flow. In that case, you'll have to quickly move the vehicle yourself to avoid a traffic jam.
Additionally,
Forbes
explained that “summon” requires you to constantly hold down a button on your phone to keep the feature active or the car will stop. What are consumers saying?
Model Y owners who've used Tesla Autopark have expressed mixed reactions regarding the feature. As highlighted by
Torque News
, some Reddit users appreciated it as a futuristic technology in its nascent age. Soon, the car will be able to find a parking space by itself.Some Tesla owners were disappointed that they could not activate Autopark in their vehicles and said the feature disappeared suddenly. That raised questions, such as whether owners need to have Full Self-Driving or upgrade Autopilot features to get summon to work. The answers to these questions are still unclear, but Autopark is a cool look into how tech may evolve in the future.
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