Your Tesla might finally get a decent conversation partner next week. Elon Musk announced that Grok—the AI chatbot from his company xAI—will roll out to Tesla vehicles “next week at the latest,” marking the automaker’s belated entry into the AI assistant arms race that rivals have been winning for years.
Hardware requirements will frustrate plenty of Tesla owners immediately. Only vehicles with Ryzen-based infotainment computers can run Grok, leaving Intel Atom processor owners completely out of luck.
Software update 2025.20 or newer becomes mandatory, along with premium connectivity or Wi-Fi access. Nobody knows yet whether you’ll need SuperGrok, X Premium, or another subscription tier that multiplies like Netflix password-sharing crackdowns.
Ford, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis already offer ChatGPT-based assistants in their vehicles. Meanwhile, Tesla spent years perfecting voice commands that barely understood “navigate home.” Musk claims Grok 4 outperforms competitors on intelligence benchmarks—supposedly reaching “PhD level knowledge in all subjects”—but admits slower response times.
Antisemitic and pro-Hitler comments from Grok recently forced xAI to pause the service for stronger content moderation. Bringing that track record into your daily commute raises questions about Tesla’s family-friendly image meshing with xAI’s edgier AI development approach.
If you’ve got the right processor and don’t mind another potential subscription fee, Grok could transform traffic jams into productive conversations. Everyone else remains stuck with “Call Mom” and hoping Tesla understands the first time.
Intelligence benchmarks matter less than delivering a stable, useful AI assistant without the drama following every Musk product launch. Your hardware lottery determines whether next week brings genuine innovation or just another reminder that early Tesla adoption comes with asterisks.
