In case you are an admirer of Google Assistant, Siri, or anything else completely, you won’t be able to use it inside your Tesla in the next little while. The possibilities of Android Auto support or CarPlay approaching Tesla EVs were weak, but reports that Tesla is developing its very own in-car voice assistant further reduces the chances.
The news is yet to be confirmed by Tesla but it is introducing a latest 2024.14.3 software update which according to reports consists of code that indicates the approaching of a new voice assistant.
The details are certainly very thin at the moment, and this is difficult to know which capabilities will this new feature have or when it is coming. But, we are aware that the activation of this assistant will be through wakeword, implying that the vehicle will perpetually be listening exactly like a smart speaker or phone.
According to Electrek, this is possibly not that shocking when you recall that CEO Elon Musk is continuously removing as much inputs and buttons from the vehicles as possible.
Previously he indicated that he wanted to eliminate the options of manual input as well wherever possible, indicating that a voice-activated vehicle is the end-game for Musk. In such case, something like a digital assistant would be significant.
“Other (than the release notes) stuff from 2024.14.3 –Amazon music playback support –Beginning of what looks like “tesla voice assistant” that would be activated by a wakeword-? (aka car always listening for it), narrated by “Jenny Neutral” voice by Microsoft.”
But, as Apple has already found, developing one that performs well is not always as simple as it seems.