October 09, 2024

Tesla’s Voice Assistant Gets an Upgrade: Grok AI Might Be on the Way

Elon Musk has hinted that Tesla drivers could soon have a new tech upgrade: Grok AI. In a recent group chat on X (formerly known as Twitter), Musk confirmed that Grok, a powerful AI tool, is likely coming to Tesla vehicles. “You would be able to ask Grok things in Teslas,” he stated, sparking a lot of buzz. If you're a Tesla fan, this could mean some exciting changes ahead, especially given the recent rollout of an advanced voice assistant in China.

What’s Up With Tesla’s Voice Assistant?

If you’ve used Tesla’s voice commands in North America, you’ve probably noticed some updates—like a clearer and more natural-sounding voice. But in China, they took things up a notch. Tesla replaced its standard voice commands with a smart assistant that can answer everyday questions like, “What’s Tesla’s stock price?” or “What’s the weather?”

Now, with Grok AI—currently available to premium users on X—Tesla drivers might get something even better. Grok isn’t just your average voice assistant. It’s a Large Language Model (LLM) capable of understanding and responding to more complex requests. Musk has mentioned in the past that Teslas have enough hardware power to run an LLM. If Grok’s capabilities are added to Tesla’s system, it could seriously enhance how we use voice commands in our cars.

What Could Grok AI Do for Tesla Drivers?

Imagine this: instead of using simple voice commands just to open the trunk or adjust the temperature, you could ask Grok to find the best burger joint nearby and have your Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) mode take you there. That’s the kind of flexibility Grok could bring. Unlike current commands that are pretty strict (you need to say things a certain way), Grok might let you be more conversational.

There’s still a lot we don’t know, though. For example, will Tesla introduce a “wake word” like other voice assistants, or will drivers still need to press a button on the steering wheel to activate it? In China, the voice assistant still requires a button press, so we’ll have to wait and see how it rolls out in North America.

Will Grok Work Locally or Over the Internet?

During the chat, Musk mentioned that Grok AI wouldn’t run directly on the vehicle. Instead, like Tesla’s current voice commands, it would send your voice request out over the internet and return with an answer. This is pretty common for most voice assistants today, but some can process commands completely on the car itself, keeping things offline.

There’s no official release date for when Tesla might introduce Grok AI to its vehicles outside of China, but considering the recent updates, we’re hopeful it’ll happen soon. Maybe it’ll even be a nice holiday surprise for Tesla owners.

Stay tuned—Tesla’s next big tech upgrade might be just around the corner!

Listen to Musk’s short audio clip below: