Summary
- Tesla vehicles respond to greetings "Hello" or "Hi" with a friendly "Hello!"
- The response suggests that Tesla is actively developing a voice assistant feature.
- The update is coming from Tesla’s own servers, not dependent on a holiday update.
- Tesla has hinted at using the xAI language model Grok for voice assistant in vehicles.
- There is no clear timeline for the launch of Tesla’s voice assistant, but the company is actively working on it.
Article
Tesla is moving closer to launching a highly-anticipated Voice Assistant, with vehicles now responding when greeted with “Hello” or “Hi.” Previously, Tesla vehicles would respond with “command not understood,” but the new response suggests active development of the voice assistant feature. This update appears to be coming from Tesla’s servers, indicating that users do not need the holiday update installed to experience the response. The company’s xAI language model Grok is expected to eventually run on all Tesla vehicles.
Elon Musk has hinted at a smaller version of chatbot Grok running natively on Tesla vehicles, potentially serving as a voice assistant. In May, Tesla was discovered to be developing a voice assistant program by adding a “wake word” activation setting in internal source code. This setting would allow users to activate voice commands by saying a specific phrase, similar to other voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa. The company has been making improvements in understanding user voice requests for over a year, including a potential Voice Assistant feature for the Cybertruck teased at an event.
It remains unclear when Tesla will officially launch its own voice assistant in its vehicles, but the recent response indicating active development suggests it is a priority for the company. Users can share their thoughts on the potential launch of the Voice Assistant by contacting Zach at teslarati.com, on X at @zacharyvisconti, or by sending tips to tips@teslarati.com. The development of a voice assistant for Tesla vehicles aligns with the company’s ongoing efforts to enhance user experience and stay ahead of the curve in technology integration. The integration of a Voice Assistant could further differentiate Tesla vehicles and attract tech-savvy consumers.
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