Tesla suggests that its voice assistant is getting close with this new feature

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Tesla appears to be getting closer to launching a highly-anticipated Voice Assistant, as its vehicles will now respond when greeted.

As spotted by Not a Tesla App earlier this week, Tesla owners can now greet their vehicles by pressing the Voice Command button and saying “Hello” or “Hi,” to which the car will respond by saying “Hello!” Previously, Tesla’s vehicles would simply respond by saying, “command not understood,” so the response suggests that the company is actively developing its voice assistant feature which has been long requested by the community.

The outlet also notes that the update seems to be coming from Tesla’s own servers, meaning that users don’t have to have the holiday update installed yet to experience the response. Tesla also interprets user speech remotely on its own servers, and the company has previously hinted that the xAI language model Grok would eventually run on all company vehicles.

Credit: Not a Tesla App

Last November, Elon Musk liked a post saying that a smaller version of chatbot Grok would run natively on Tesla’s vehicles, likely used in part as a voice assistant for the company’s cars with updated hardware.

In May, code sleuth greentheonly discovered that Tesla had seemingly begun developing its voice assistant program by adding a “wake word” activation setting in the internal source code of one of the company’s updates. Not unlike when users say “Hey Alexa” to activate Amazon’s voice assistant, rather than how Tesla drivers currently have to press a button to engage voice commands.

During Tesla’s October 10 Cybercab unveiling event, the company also teased a potential Voice Assistant feature for the Cybertruck, and it has been making major improvements to its ability to understand user voice requests for over a year.

It’s still unclear exactly when Tesla plans to launch its own voice assistant in its vehicles, but the arrival of a single response suggests that it’s on the company’s radar and is actively being developed.

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla posts teaser for potential Cybertruck “voice” feature

Tesla’s vehicles now respond ‘hello’ in hint at upcoming voice assistant





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Tesla Cybertrucks get faster charging ahead of V4 cabinet rollout

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Ahead of the rollout of V4-compatible power cabinets, Tesla has highlighted that faster charging speeds for the Cybertruck are now available at certain charging stations with V4 Supercharging posts.

On Friday, Tesla’s Charging account on X highlighted that the Cybertruck can now charge at speeds of up to 325kW at select Supercharger sites with V4 charging stalls. The news comes as Tesla prepares to start rolling out its V4 charging cabinets in early 2025, which will enable speeds of up to 500kW.

Tesla North American Charging Director Max de Zegher also reposted the news on X, clarifying that, eventually, all V4 posts with a V3 cabinet would enable 325kW charging speeds, and likely even in the coming weeks. He also points out that these Cybertrucks are charging at 400v at 325kW, though they’ll eventually be able to access the full capabilities of their 800v charging architecture with the arrival of the V4 cabinet.

Where can Tesla Cybertrucks charge at speeds of up to 325kW?

Below is the full list of initial sites where Tesla Cybertrucks can charge at 325kW, as shared by Tesla. The company also says it’s aiming to roll out access to even more locations.

  • Lebec, CA
  • Chemult, OR
  • Columbus, GA – Macon Road
  • Dayton, OH – North Springboro Pike
  • Dunnigan, CA – County Road
  • Lamoni, IA
  • Wilsonville, OR
  • Truckee, CA – Deerfield Drive
  • Harrison, NY
  • Farr West, UT
  • Tacoma, WA – S 40th Street
  • Highland, CA – 4154 E Highland Ave
  • Melissa, TX
  • Cedar Park, TX – East Whitestone Boulevard
  • Gillette, WY – South Douglas Highway
  • Rockaway, NJ – Green Pond Road
  • Mesa, AZ – South Signal Butte Road
  • Blaine, WA – Boblett Street
  • Santa Ynez, CA

Tesla’s latest charging improvements and milestones

Tesla quietly started rolling out its upgraded V4 Superchargers in North America and other markets throughout much of last year, though the community was quick to point out that the power cabinets also required updates to allow for faster charging speeds. In August, however, Tesla did confirm that it was performing trials of faster charging speeds on the V4 stalls at select Supercharger locations, hinting that these updates were not far off and that even sites with V3 cabinets would likely soon access faster charging.

In the past, Tesla and de Zegher have also highlighted the advantages of building prefabricated charging units at the Gigafactory in Buffalo, New York, which come in pre-built structures with four stall units that are delivered to the site. For one, Tesla has said that the prefab units now take the company just four days from delivery to installation, meaning that it can deploy charging stations faster than ever.

Ultimately, the charging executive also says that the cost-savings that come from building Supercharger stalls this way will be passed onto the customer, following suit recent price reductions that have been spotted in both the North American and European markets in recent weeks.

You can see a rendering of the total supplies needed for four V4 Supercharger stalls (left) compared to the pre-assembled Supercharger units (right) below.

Credit: Max de Zegher | X

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla Supercharger network leads U.S. toward 2030 charging goal

Tesla Cybertrucks get faster charging ahead of V4 cabinet rollout





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Tesla revamps in-house vinyl wrap service with better pricing

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Tesla is revamping its vinyl wrap service with better pricing just a few months after quietly discontinuing what it previously offered.

In September, Tesla eliminated 80 percent of its in-house wrap options for the Cybertruck in a move that seemed to limit available colors to the most popular.

On Friday, December 13, Tesla launched a new vinyl wrap service for the Cybertruck, as well as the Model 3 and Model Y, pricing the new service at between $4,000 and $4,500.

Tesla writes on its website:

“Customize your Tesla with a vinyl wrap. Available in a variety of colors, textures and patterns, these wraps are made from polyvinyl chloride, making them extra durable, versatile and removable. Choose between matte, satin and gloss finishes. Hand-wash only.”

Interestingly, there is no dropdown menu to select a color, only the finish. This likely means Tesla will be able to supply basically whatever the customer could want. On its website, it shows various screenshots of each vehicle in a variety of colors.

Here are a few Tesla is showing on the website:

The Cybertruck wraps are priced at $4,500, while the Model 3 and Model Y are $4,000.

Tesla has typically only offered a handful of colors with its paint, only expanding to wraps recently. The launch of the wrap service came as the Cybertruck became more readily available, and as it was available only in its stainless steel finish, customization was something many owners requested.

The wrap service is also only available in a handful of locations. Currently, Tesla will only make it available in the following Service Center locations:

  • Costa Mesa, CA
  • Oceanside, CA
  • Santa Clara, CA
  • West Covina, CA
  • Seattle, WA

It is also only available on Model 3 and Model Y vehicles built during model year 2023 and older.

Teslarati also offers its own in-house wrapping service! You can check it out here!

Need accessories for your Tesla? Check out the Teslarati Marketplace:

Please email me with questions and comments at joey@teslarati.com. I’d love to chat! You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla revamps in-house vinyl wrap service with better pricing





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