Gone could be the days of issuing clunky voice commands to your Tesla, looks to be putting the finishing touches on a much smarter, conversational voice assistant to serve as a more intuitive co-pilot.
According to recent software detections by Tesla hacker @greentheonly, Tesla’s engineers are integrating voice assistant capabilities that go far beyond simply executing predefined instructions. Talking comprehending natural language, answering knowledge-based questions, and likely initiating new vehicle controls with plain speech.
It’s shaping up to be a huge upgrade over Tesla’s current voice command system which, let’s be honest, leaves a lot to be desired in terms of recognition accuracy and functionality. This overhauled experience could finally put Tesla’s voice interface on par with AI assistants like Alexa.
The “Hey Tesla” Solution?
While other automakers like Rivian have opted to directly integrate 3-party voice AI, the early indications are that Tesla may roll its own proprietary solution – at least at first. Internally nicknamed “Tesla Assistant,” the software appears to blend some of the company’s own language AI models with existing speech recognition tech from Microsoft.
Tantalizingly, references to a “Jenny Neutral” synthetic voice have been spotted, presumably for delivering vocal responses in a natural-sounding tone. Perhaps a glimpse at the voice assistant’s wake word or persona? Only time will tell if “Hey Tesla” or something else sticks as the automotive AI’s call sign.
Of course, the big question is whether Tesla can curate a voice assistant experience with all the modern smarts while still whittling down third-party dependencies. Accessing an ecosystem of smart home integrations, productivity services, and general knowledge databases is arguably just as important as core vehicle controls.
On the flip side, with Tesla controlling the end-to-end experience, it could have greater flexibility to customize the assistant as a seamless extension of its vehicles down the road, though you can expect some growing pains and limited functionality out of the gate.
After enduring Tesla’s current voice command system for this long, any upgrade to a truly intelligent, conversational co-pilot would be welcome. It’s the road Tesla needs to take as it braces for an automotive AI battleground.