Tesla’s remote parking investigation closed by U.S. regulators

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the U.S. federal government agency responsible for vehicle safety, has officially closed its investigation into “Actually Smart Summon,” Tesla’s remote parking feature. In an update released on Friday, the U.S. regulator clarified that the closing of the investigation does not constitute a finding that a safety-related defect does not exist. The agency also emphasized that it retains the authority to reopen the probe at any time.

The remote parking feature was released to owners via a software update in September 2024. The feature allows Tesla owners to use a mobile application to direct their vehicle to drive itself to their location at low speeds, relying on the car’s cameras. This release was notable because the previous version of the remote parking feature, known as Smart Summon, had relied on ultrasonic sensors—hardware sensors previously used for proximity detection that are no longer present on newer Tesla vehicles.

The U.S. safety agency originally opened its investigation in January 2025 following reports of dozens of crashes involving the Actually Smart Summon feature. Upon reviewing the data, the regulator found that out of millions of user sessions, only a fraction of 1% resulted in an incident. These incidents typically involved minor property damage, such as vehicles striking gates, parked cars, or bollards. Ultimately, the U.S. regulator concluded that crashes were rare, at low speed, and not severe. The agency also confirmed that there were no reported incidents involving a vulnerable road user, injury, fatality, or major property damage as indicated by an air bag deployment or vehicle tow away.

According to the regulator’s findings, the incidents were often caused by the person or system using the app failing to fully detect surroundings, which was often due to limited visibility in the app’s camera view. In some instances, environmental factors like snow obstructed the vehicle’s camera, which the system failed to detect. To address these visibility and detection issues, Tesla has issued a number of software updates to improve camera blockage detection and object recognition, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Why it matters

The closure of this probe highlights the ongoing regulatory scrutiny of Tesla’s driver-assistance software, balancing the company’s rapid over-the-air update capabilities against federal safety oversight.