Tesla to integrate Deepseek, Doubao AI voice controls in China

[BEIJING] Tesla plans to introduce in-car voice assistant functions powered by Deepseek and Bytedance’s Doubao artificial intelligence as it aims to catch local rivals who offer similar features.

The technology allows drivers to use voice commands to control navigation apps, in-car entertainment and cabin temperature, as well as receive news updates, according to a terms and service document uploaded to Tesla’s official website.

Voice commands will be mostly processed by Doubao, while Deepseek chat will be responsible for AI interaction, the document showed. Both these models are hosted by Bytedance’s Volcano Engine cloud service, it said.

Foreign carmakers are increasingly turning to domestic suppliers to provide AI models to offer a more localised experience for Chinese drivers, who have grown accustomed to tech-filled cars. BMW said in March that it has deepened a partnership with Alibaba Group Holding and will introduce the QWen large language model to an upcoming line-up tailor-made for the China market.

Tesla vehicles in the US use Grok, a model developed by chief executive officer Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI. The move shows that legal requirements in China likely made it difficult to introduce Grok to the market, and underscore the competition Tesla faces from domestic brands such as BYD and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, who have turned to Deepseek to improve their in-car user interaction.

Shipments from Tesla’s Shanghai factory have fallen in six of the first seven months of 2025, with July deliveries down 8.4 per cent from a year earlier.

It is not clear if the AI models have already been integrated into Tesla’s Chinese cars. Several owners contacted by Bloomberg News said they had not yet been notified of the new terms and service document. The most recent over-the-air update listed on Tesla’s official Wechat app was dated Aug 18. BLOOMBERG