Tesla's Safety Score 2.1 update adjusts its evaluation criteria, particularly focusing on the Late-Night Driving metric. At the same time, the broader community continues to express concerns over other aspects of the system, notably the Forward Collision Warning.
Tesla has specifically addressed the Late-Night Driving metric, shifting the impactful driving window from 10 PM - 4 AM to 11 PM - 4 AM. This change directly responds to feedback regarding how late-night driving affects Safety Scores and, consequently, insurance premiums.
Addressing Concerns Beyond the Update
DriveTeslaCanada posted the story, which became quite a topic on Reddit. While the Late-Night Driving metric adjustment has been well-received, the Tesla community remains vocal about other system aspects, particularly the Forward Collision Warning’s sensitivity. Reports of frequent false alerts highlight a potential area for further improvement. Users suggest implementing a feature for manual incident reporting, using dashcam footage as evidence, to help refine the system's accuracy. Additionally, there's a call for Tesla to leverage such data to train its neural networks, aiming to reduce false positives.
Insurance and Safety Scores: Discussions extend to the implications of the Safety Score on Tesla Insurance premiums, with drivers sharing how updates and system sensitivities affect their scores and, subsequently, their insurance costs.
Reflecting on Safety Score 2.0
The introduction of Safety Score 2.0, almost one year ago to the day, marked a significant milestone, adding new safety factors like Excessive Speeding and Unbuckled Driving to Tesla's driving assessment tool. These factors, alongside the updated Late Night Driving metric and existing metrics like Hard Braking and Aggressive Turning, leverage Tesla's vast fleet data to encourage safer driving habits.
Tesla's Safety Score, evolving through versions from 1.0 to the current 2.1, serves as a personalized driving coach. Assessing driving behavior against a set of safety factors provides drivers with actionable feedback to improve their habits. This enhances road safety and offers the potential for lower insurance premiums, aligning financial incentives with safer driving practices.
The Safety Score's utility extends beyond individual feedback; it aggregates millions of miles of driving data to inform Tesla's safety feature development. This ongoing analysis helps identify trends and patterns in driving behavior, shaping the evolution of vehicle safety features and contributing to Tesla's reputation for producing some of the safest vehicles on the road.
As Tesla continues to refine its Safety Score system, incorporating driver feedback and advancing technology, the dialogue between the company and its community is vital. The adjustments in Safety Score 2.1, especially the revised Late-Night Driving metric, reflect a positive step towards balancing safety assessments with real-world driving experiences. Meanwhile, the ongoing discussions about FCW sensitivity underscore the importance of continuous improvement and innovation in vehicle safety systems.
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Tesla has begun to reach out to customers in the United States and is offering demo drives of the Cybertruck on an invite-only basis. @brandonhd on X shared the first invite image, and it looks like it's going out quite quickly to multiple locations that have Cybertrucks on display.
Up until now, display vehicles have been for just that – looking, but no touching. Some Tesla delivery centers and showrooms have also allowed viewers to take a seat inside and open it up, but most are still locked away behind the velvet rope.
It’s exciting to see that Tesla has begun to demo them – and it can only be so long until demo drives open up to everyone.
Advisor-led Demo
This Demo Drive is led by a Tesla Advisor – while you’re driving, the advisor will be in the passenger seat, walking you through the experience. They’ll explain steer-by-wire, off-road controls, and will introduce new-to-Tesla buyers to all the features that are currently available.
The list of locations so far for demo drives appears to be fairly limited, but we will hopefully see demo drives roll out throughout the United States, and eventually Canada too. Here is the current list of city/state locations that have seen demo drive invites.
Actually Smart Summon, the successor to Tesla’s Smart Summon feature, has been confirmed to be coming as soon as next month as per Elon Musk. Colloquially known as “ASS”, Actually Smart Summon is supposed to improve on the regular Smart Summon capabilities, which have historically used ultrasonic sensors (USS) to navigate parking lots.
We’re looking forward to Actually Smart Summon, and we’re quite excited about what other features will be unlocked once it finally shows up at our doorstep.
Vision-based Improvements
ASS is supposed to bring Smart Summon to vehicles that don’t have USS – using Tesla Vision. Most recently, Tesla has brought Autopark to vehicles without USS, and Vision-based Autopark has been a huge success. It is faster, more reliable, and smoother than the older USS-based solution. It can also park and maneuver in tighter locations.
Today, Smart Summon is sometimes useful at best, usually a party trick, or downright dangerous at worst. It’s excellent and best used in straight lines, where you have a clear line of sight of the vehicle, and can stop it if doesn’t see an obstacle.
I used Smart Summon today, just before writing this article – my 2022 Model Y (with USS) – did manage to show up just fine – in a straight-line location from where I was parked, after exiting the parking spot fairly cleanly. However, I’ve previously used Smart Summon and have had the vehicle turn towards obstacles, such as cart returns or curbs. Overall, it’s a sometimes-useful feature that has a lot of drawbacks right now.
Smart Summon is also restricted to a certain distance – and it's pretty small. The max distance is shorter than most parking lots, being only about 215 ft (65m). If you’re lucky enough to park close, it's very useful to bring your car right to you.
Actually Smart Summon
ASS will bring FSD V12-like capabilities to Smart Summon – the vehicle will primarily use Vision to drive toward you (or the location you’ve indicated). ASS has been supposed to be coming since about September 2022 and has seen many delays – we’re almost at the 2-year point today.
We’re looking forward to Actually Smart Summon being able to bring the vehicle – safely – right to you. ASS is also one of the key steps towards bringing some other cool features that Elon Musk has previously mentioned – Park Seek and Banish Autopark.
We’re also hopeful that Actually Smart Summon will increase the maximum range a vehicle can be summoned, because the current range is fairly small. Alongside Park Seek and Banish Autopark, we’re closing in on a Robotaxi-based future.
Park Seek and Banish Autopark
When the FSD v12.4 showed up, Elon also mentioned that going forward, vehicles would automatically park themselves when arriving in a parking lot – Park Seek – and that if you got out of the car at the entrance to a business, you could get it to automatically park itself in the parking lot – Banish Autopark. These are two features that are needed for Robotaxi to work – which itself is delayed to October 10th of this year. We’re looking quite forward to them – as in combination with Actually Smart Summon, Tesla has reached the cusp of vehicle autonomy.
A vehicle that arrives, driverless, at the location you’re at, then drives somewhere, parks itself there, and waits for you – is the definition of a Robotaxi.
While we’re likely to have to wait for Banish Autopark and Park Seek just a bit longer, Actually Smart Summon being around the corner is exciting! Gone will be the days of having to run out to your car when you forgot your umbrella – your car will just come right to you instead.
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The official Tesla app only notifies you if your car is broken into. By installing Sentry Pro on your phone, you will be notified for all Sentry Mode events. Stay connected and avoid potential surprises by receiving notifications. Stop constantly checking the cameras to ensure safety. Check only when necessary, save battery and get peace of mind. Get a 7 day free trial here!
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