Tesla has announced that it will begin the rollout of its new AI companion, Grok, in its vehicles this week, with Hardware 3 owners being the first to receive it in their EVs.
This new feature, which is part of the latest update rolling out to these eligible vehicles, it will be able to answer almost any question with real-time information and response.
Along with that, Grok can be used to give voice commands to the car’s built-in navigation system.
On the Tesla Australia & New Zealand X account, the company said: “Grok is coming to Teslas in Australia and New Zealand”.
Grok, the AI companion, is developed by xAI and is designed to provide accurate responses to a variety of questions.
After receiving and installing the update with Grok, owners can enable it from the car’s steering wheel, set the personality to Assistant, and make their request.
Examples of what Grok can be used for could include:
- Setting a destination
- Adjusting routes on the go
- Discovering local points of interest
This could really help owners easily select the destination using voice command, which in some EVs has been an area for improvement.
According to Tesla, interactions with Grok are securely processed by xAI, and conversations remain anonymous to Tesla and are not linked to the owner or their vehicle.
For owners to use Grok to initiate a navigation command, local Tesla EVs must have software version 2025.44.25 or later.
Grok rollout has begun in Australia and New Zealand, starting with Hardware 3 vehicles with AMD processors in the cars.
In order to find out if your Tesla Model 3 or Model Y has an AMD infotainment processor, select ‘Controls’ > ‘Software’ > ‘Additional Vehicle Information’ to view the car’s infotainment processor.
Hardware 4 vehicles will see waves of further rollout in the coming days. Owners will be informed of this update today via their Tesla App.
This is a fairly big feature that owners have eagerly been waiting for, so it’s great to see local rollout, further highlighting the benefits of over-the-air (OTA) updates, continuously adding new features to improve the EV ownership experience.
We look forward to testing Grok in the Tesla vehicles locally in the near future and reporting back on what it’s like to use it in Australia.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.