A Montreal man’s Tesla accident could be due to a glitch in the Smart Summon feature

George Ghazzoul is warning other drivers about the new Smart Summon feature on Tesla vehicles after his self-driving vehicle sideswiped another in a parking lot.

When Ghazzoul bought a Tesla two years ago, he admitted it wasn’t just the style of the car that drove him; it was his love for technology.

“Really, the selling point for me is the fact that you get software updates and you always get new features on the car,” he said.

One of the newest downloadable features is Smart Summon.

Similar to a valet service, your car can come to you using your phone’s GPS as the target destination.

Ghazzoul decided to give it a try on April 10 while standing in the parking lot of the Fairview Shopping Center.

He used the feature to summon his parked car to pick him up.

“I was in range when I activated it,” he said. “I saw him move at first, but then he made a sharp turn to the right instead of driving out of the spot first.” He tried to disable the feature, but the car didn’t stop in time, so he ended up sideways with the car parked next to it.

The estimate for damage to both cars was several thousand dollars. Ghazzoul contacted Tesla about the accident.

He said that since it was their feature that was malfunctioning, they had to take responsibility, but he said they told him to contact his insurance company and that it wasn’t their problem since he activated the feature.

His insurance company, meanwhile, said he was entirely at fault for the accident.

What’s even worse for Ghazzoul is that he has since discovered that it wasn’t even legal for him to use this driverless feature in public spaces in Quebec.

“The rules were written before the technology existed,” said George Iny, executive director of the Automobile Protection Association.

He said it is up to motorists to know the rules of the road, including the fact that parking spaces are considered public spaces and therefore this technology should not be activated.

However, he said it is also up to manufacturers to communicate this to their customers.

“There’s also the issue of the ethical and moral compass of a company that sells you a feature that’s of no use to you, where the car is registered and doesn’t bother to tell you you’re not using it,” he says. Iny said.

He added that manufacturers also cannot activate such features in markets where this would not be allowed.

Tesla did not respond to CTV’s request for an interview.

Ghazzoul said that while he is relieved no one was injured, he now has to pay for the damages himself so his insurance premiums don’t increase. He says he is disappointed with Tesla.

“There’s no information on where you can and can’t use it,” he said.

He wants to warn other Tesla drivers not to make the same mistake he did, and to check first before trying out new features for a test drive.