Tesla delays Autopilot price hike after missing “smart summon” deadline

Enlarge / Another Model 3 angle. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

Elon Musk admitted Tuesday that Tesla is delaying a planned $1,000 price increase for its full self-driving package. The move comes after Tesla failed to release “smart summon” technology for parking lot navigation in mid-August, as Musk predicted Tesla would do in a July tweet.

Musk now says that he expects smart summon to be released in “about 4 to 8 weeks.” But there’s ample reason to doubt this new timeline.

“Tesla advanced Summon ready in ~6 weeks,” Musk tweeted back on November 1, 2018. “Car will drive to your phone location & follow you like a pet if you hold down summon button on Tesla app,” Musk promised. “Also, you’ll be able to drive it from your phone remotely like a big RC car if in line of sight.”