Tesla Is Adding 'Hey, Tesla' Wake Word in China With Spatial Awareness

Many Tesla owners currently must press and hold the right scroll wheel or button to speak to their vehicle; that physical trigger is the only way to initiate a voice command or Grok today.

According to the release notes for an upcoming software update in China—the same update that will increase Dashcam recording history and add custom automations—Tesla is introducing a voice wake word.

Waking Up

When turned on, the system will respond to the phrase “Hey, Tesla” to activate the in-car voice assistant, making the experience more like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant.

In China, the wake word will activate the region-specific voice assistant, which is similar to Grok. It can answer simple queries such as stock quotes and weather information but is not a full AI assistant like Grok. The wake word rollout in China follows comments from Musk that this capability was coming.

The feature is opt-in and will appear in a new settings category under Controls > Voice. Users who prefer the existing method can continue using the steering-wheel button.

Zone-Specific Intelligence

The update also adds zone-specific voice recognition, allowing the car to not only listen throughout the cabin but to estimate where a command originated.

For example, if a passenger in the front seat says “I’m cold,” the vehicle should be able to adjust only the passenger-side climate control or activate that seat’s heater. Owners will be able to enable or disable voice activation for individual seats so rear-seat occupants cannot access or change navigation.

This capability first appeared with the Model Y L and is now being expanded to the rest of Tesla’s lineup.

Grok Support

When the feature reaches North America, it will likely be used to summon Grok rather than the legacy voice command system. Bringing up Grok hands-free should make the assistant feel more natural. It is unclear whether Tesla will retain “Hey, Tesla” globally or switch to a different phrase such as “Hey, Grok,” but the China release suggests one of those two options.

Hardware Requirements

The vehicle-level ability to determine who activated the assistant will not be available on all cars and is expected to be limited to more recent model years. The system requires multiple microphones to estimate sound direction, so availability will be fairly limited.

It is also unknown whether the simpler wake word will be supported on all vehicles; it may be restricted to Ryzen-based vehicles. The feature is expected to be released in China over the next week or two, and additional details will be provided when the update is published.

Other notable features in this update include the ability to create custom automations and an extended Dashcam recording duration beyond the last hour.