Tesla China adds Doubao AI model to in-car system

Owners do not need to look for a new physical button: opening the app launcher or holding down the scroll wheel on the right side of the steering wheel activates the Doubao voice service in Tesla China's in-car system. Volcano Engine announced on August 19 that the feature was being rolled out in batches with an update; rollout began on July 31 with version 2026.14.13 and covers the Model 3, Model Y, Model S and Model X.

This integration is about more than chatting. Reports indicate that Doubao supports natural-language interaction in Chinese and is used for frequent scenarios such as setting navigation, adjusting the climate, playing media and searching the owner's manual. It also supports real-time information searches, continuous conversation, storytelling and English practice. The service is integrated as a standalone app, and owners can choose preset roles such as “Know-It-All” and “Music Lover,” as well as different voices.

The in-car workload is also split between two models: Doubao handles vehicle-related scenarios, while DeepSeek Chat handles everyday casual conversation and information searches. Tesla uses Musk's Grok in the US market, but chose a domestic model for China. Volcano Engine said this was Tesla's first integration of a third-party AI model into its in-car system in China. New Model 3 and Model Y vehicles with AMD processors are receiving priority support, while some older models are gradually receiving OTA updates.

The specific change is that Tesla owners in China can use voice interaction that is better suited to Chinese phrasing to search for information, start continuous conversations and access a range of common in-car scenarios. However, the service is not immediately available on all vehicles. Users need to upgrade to version 2026.14.13 or 2026.20.200 and later, and full access also requires a premium in-car entertainment service. Volcano Engine and owner feedback confirmed the rollout's progress,

The boundaries are equally clear. Tesla China's customer service said that the current version of Doubao has no vehicle-control permissions and cannot control the vehicle. D1EV also cited an introduction stating that it does not have vehicle-control permissions related to driving safety. Therefore, this update primarily changes how the in-car system understands speech, responds and provides information—not by turning the voice assistant into a driving controller.