- Tesla China replaces its in-car AI with ByteDance’s Doubao LLM in a phased OTA rollout.
- Doubao-driven assistant and new voice personas require Premium Connectivity and AMD Ryzen–equipped cars.
- OTA also adds Pet Mode, overnight installs, local dashcam saving, UI tweaks, and security patches.
On July 31, Tesla China released software version 2026.14.13, with a phased rollout beginning immediately for the Model 3, Model Y, Model S and Model X.
The over-the-air (OTA) update includes enhancements across intelligent voice interaction, in-car features, user experience and system security.
The most notable addition is Tesla China’s first integration of a third-party large language model. ByteDance’s Doubao LLM replaces the previous voice system as the in-car AI assistant.
The move marks a localization of Tesla’s intelligent cockpit strategy for the Chinese market.
While overseas markets use xAI’s Grok model developed by Elon Musk’s AI company, the China version adopts Doubao to provide AI services tailored to local users.
Unlike the Chinese market, vehicle-mounted Grok AI in the U.S. requires a monthly Premium connected car subscription priced at $9.99 (exclusive of applicable taxes) for unrestricted access over the vehicle’s cellular network without Wi-Fi reliance.
Hardware regulations remain identical for China and the U.S., with both Grok and China’s in-vehicle Doubao only supported in models equipped with AMD Ryzen chips.
Tesla began working with ByteDance’s Volcano Engine in August last year, with the latter providing large language model capabilities for Tesla’s intelligent cockpit experience.
The latest OTA marks the commercial deployment of that collaboration in production vehicles.
Powered by the Doubao model, the updated system enables more natural conversational interactions and real-time information retrieval.
The update also introduces multiple AI voice profiles and character settings, including “General Expert,” “Music Enthusiast,” and “Storyteller.”
This allows users to choose assistants suited to different scenarios. The feature, however, still requires Tesla’s Premium Connectivity subscription.
Beyond the AI assistant upgrade, the OTA adds several practical functions, including the official launch of a dedicated Pet Mode.
Tesla also refined the user interface. The standalone Trip module has been integrated into the Energy app, allowing users to manage multiple travel plans and compare energy consumption across different routes.
The built-in sketchpad now includes additional stickers and emoji assets, with completed artwork shareable through the Tesla app. Apple Music playback has also been optimized.
Meanwhile, Tesla patched multiple security vulnerabilities, including out-of-bounds memory access, CAN bus buffer overflow and symbolic link race condition issues.
The update also introduces automatic overnight installation, allowing downloaded software to be installed while the vehicle is parked and idle.
The Dashcam feature now supports permanently saving video clips to local onboard storage without uploading recordings to cloud servers, improving convenience while enhancing user privacy.
In addition, Tesla updated its onboard navigation package to the latest CN-2026.14-16069 version, bringing refreshed road and mapping data.
Notably, one day before releasing the OTA update, Tesla announced production of its 10 millionth BEV worldwide, becoming the first automaker to surpass 10 million cumulative all-electric passenger vehicle production.
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