Tesla to add Chinese AI voice assistants in cars: report

Tesla plans to introduce new in-car voice assistant features in China using AI models from DeepSeek and ByteDance’s Doubao, according to a terms and service document published on the company’s official website, as per a report by Bloomberg News.

The system will allow drivers to use voice commands to control navigation, entertainment, and cabin temperature, as well as receive news updates, explains the Bloomberg report. Doubao will handle most of the voice processing, while DeepSeek will support AI interactions. Both models are hosted on ByteDance’s Volcano Engine cloud service.

In the United States, Tesla relies on Grok, an AI platform developed by Elon Musk’s startup xAI. Regulatory requirements appear to have prevented Grok from being introduced in China, where Tesla faces competition from domestic manufacturers such as BYD and Geely, which already use DeepSeek in their vehicles, suggests the report.

The shift is an example of how foreign automakers are turning to Chinese AI providers to meet local demand for tech-heavy vehicles. In similar news, BMW announced earlier this year that it would integrate Alibaba’s QWen model into cars designed for the Chinese market.

Tesla’s deliveries from its Shanghai plant fell in six of the first seven months of 2025, with July shipments down 8.4% from a year earlier. It remains unclear when Chinese customers will gain access to the new AI assistants, as several owners told Bloomberg News they had not yet received update notifications. The latest over-the-air update listed on Tesla’s official WeChat account was dated August 18.