Watch: “Smart”-Summoned Tesla Drives Down Wrong Side Of The Road In Mall Parking Lot

Shocking video has surfaced of a ‘Smart Summoned’ Tesla driving down the wrong side of the road while trying to find its owner, like a lost infant wandering aimlessly, trying to find its mother, at a shopping mall. 

The video shows the vehicle nervously stopping and starting (sometimes in the middle of the road), as it seeks to make its way back to its owner by navigating a parking lot. Nearby onlookers seem baffled by the car’s “ham-fisted driving”, as only the Brits over at the Daily Mail could accurately describe it. 

The video starts with the car already out of its parking space and moving through the lot. The video begins with the car on the complete opposite side of the road, before the Tesla decides to stop and park, straddling where both traffic lanes would be. The film was taken at a shopping mall in Richmond, BC, Canada. 

Recall, we noted recently that Consumer Reports had issued (another) warning about the company’s Smart Summon feature last month. 

Consumer Reports commented that the Summon feature only works “intermittently” and “depending on the car’s reading of the surroundings”. It said the car sometimes seemed “confused” about where it was, adding that one vehicle shut itself down in a parking lot after incorrectly assessing that it was on a public road. 

That certainly seemed to be the case in the most recent example. 

We also detailed Consumer Reports’ first look into Smart Summon, when they called the feature “glitchy” and a “science experiment”. Smart Summon “doesn’t match the marketing hype,” they said at the time. 

The NHTSA is also currently investigating the feature. 

We also documented at length what an unmitigated disaster the original release of Summon was, showcasing videos and testimonials from social media of the feature running amok. Early customer videos and reports of the “feature” made it look extremely dangerous and nothing short of a complete disaster. 

And continued evidence has done nothing to change that sentiment…