Why safety officials closed their investigation into Tesla’s remote control system

US motoring safety officials closed their investigation into Tesla’s remote parking system, known as the “Actually Smart Summon,” after finding that the crashes were rare, at low speeds, and not serious.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in his update Friday that the closure of the investigation does not mean that there is no safety-related error and said it could be reopened.

Remote parking, which was rolled out via a software update in September 2024, allows owners to use their Tesla app to control the car to drive towards them at high speed, using only the car’s cameras. The release was notable at the time because the previous model, Smart Summon, also used artificial sensors, which are no longer present in new Tesla vehicles.

The NHTSA opened an investigation in January 2025 after numerous accidents involving the “Actually Smart Summon” feature. The study found that out of millions of Summon sessions, only 1% triggered an event, which often caused damage to small objects such as hitting gates, parked cars, or bollards.

There were also no “incidents involving road user endangerment, injury, death, or significant property damage as indicated by air bag deployment or vehicle towing,” according to the report.

The NHTSA found that a person or machine using the app was unable to properly perceive their surroundings, often due to the poor quality of the app’s camera. Some incidents were caused by snow blocking the camera, which it failed to detect.

Tesla has issued several software updates to improve the camera’s occlusion detection and object recognition, according to NHTSA.