The investigation into the summons feature likely comes as a blow to Tesla, which has been trying to advance its driverless capabilities lately. In a somewhat controversial move, Tesla's summons feature relies on a camera-only approach, as opposed to competitors using lidar, radar and cameras for driverless capabilities.

The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating Tesla’s “Actual Smart Summon” remote parking feature after several crash incidents were reported. NHTSA says it has received reports of 16 incidents involving Tesla’s smart summon feature in 2016-2025 Model S and X vehicles as well as 2017-2025 Model 3s and 2020-2025 Model Ys.

The agency has previously investigated earlier versions of Smart Summon, which is meant to let a Tesla vehicle park itself or fetch a driver via remote app command.

The “Actually Smart Summon” feature enables drivers to remotely summon or move their vehicles to them or another location via a mobile phone app.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tesla’s automated summoning feature has been linked to at least four crashes.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an investigation into crashes It said occurred while Tesla vehicles were operating with a parking feature that allows owners to summon a car from a parking space without anyone being in the vehicle.