Electric car manufacturer Tesla plans to introduce an artificial intelligence-based voice assistant from Deepseek and Doubao - a subsidiary of Bytedance, which owns the TikTok service - into its cars in China. In this way, the automaker is trying to catch up with Chinese competitors already offering similar features. Tesla cannot use the chatbot Grok, developed by Elon Musk's startup xAI, in China.

Details

Third-party AI will provide the voice assistant in Tesla electric cars in China, according to a document published on Tesla's website on the terms of use of the service.

Voice commands will mostly be handled by Doubao, which is a division of Chinese internet giant Bytedance. More complex requests will be handled by Deepseek Chat, a startup that hit the markets in January.

The voice assistant in Tesla cars will allow drivers to control navigation, multimedia system and climate control with voice commands, as well as receive news and communicate with AI.

Shares of Tesla at the auction on August 22 rose at the moment by 5.5% to $337.8. Quotes rose in parallel with the entire technology sector after the speech of US Fed Chairman Jerome Powell at the economic forum in Jackson Hole, where he hinted at a possible key rate cut as early as September.

Why it's a Tesla

In the U.S., Tesla uses Grok, a language model developed by xAI, a startup owned by CEO Elon Musk, for its voice assistant. The move to Chinese solutions suggests that the country's current laws have likely made it difficult to introduce Grok to the local market, Bloomberg explains. It also underscores the increasing competition from Chinese brands such as BYD and Zhejiang Geely, which also use Deepseek in their vehicles, the agency writes.

Tesla shipments from its Shanghai plant have fallen in six out of seven months since the start of 2025. In July, shipments were down 8.4 percent from the same month last year, Bloomberg reported.

It's unclear whether the new AI models have already been integrated into Tesla's Chinese cars. Several owners contacted by Bloomberg said they had not received notifications about the new terms of use. The last over-the-air software update listed on Tesla's official WeChat account was dated Aug. 18. Representatives for Tesla and Bytedance did not respond to the agency's requests for comment.

CNEVPost reports that the voice assistant with DeepSeek and Doubao is already working in the China version of the Tesla Model Y Long Range, unveiled on August 19. Drivers can summon the voice assistant with the phrase "Hey Tesla" or another customizable command.

Context

Foreign automakers in China are increasingly turning to local AI model suppliers, Bloomberg notes. In March, BMW expanded its partnership with Alibaba Group and planned to incorporate the QWen neural network into a new line of cars customized for the Chinese market.

Apple was also planning to connect Alibaba's AI to the Siri assistant in China, but the plans have yet to materialize. This decision by the iPhone developer was criticized by the White House.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor

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