A Tesla’s touchscreen, where Grok Bot now lives. Image: Tony Webster / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Tesla has put Grok Bot, the AI agent from Elon Musk’s xAI, inside its cars. Drivers can now ask it to go through their email, sort out their calendar, order food or book a table, all by voice and without touching a screen. There’s a catch, though: for now, the full agent is only available on xAI’s most expensive plan.
What it can do
Tesla announced the upgrade on X, saying drivers can now “manage your inbox, clean up your calendar, or talk through existing files/chat/tasks – all hands-free,” Not a Tesla App reports.
That goes well beyond the navigation and climate controls Grok could already handle. Grok Bot can carry out multi-step tasks, including:
- reading and summarising your email, and flagging what needs attention
- checking your calendar for conflicts and adding trips or appointments
- ordering food and drinks through DoorDash, Uber Eats and Starbucks
- booking restaurant reservations through OpenTable
In Tesla’s own example, a driver says “Check my inbox,” hears about a reservation, and has Grok check their calendar and add the trip, all while driving. One Vancouver owner showed it ordering a Starbucks drink while the car drove itself on Full Self-Driving, confirming the order and total by voice. It felt like “the car can run an errand with you,” he said, according to Drive Tesla Canada.
How it works
Grok Bot uses “Connectors”: secure links to your accounts on services like Gmail and Google Calendar. You set them up in the Grok app by tapping the + icon, choosing New Connector and signing in to the service. In the car, you reach Grok through the app launcher, the microphone button on the steering wheel or by voice.
The $300 catch
Connectors themselves are available to all Grok users. But Grok Bot, the part that actually places orders and books things, currently requires a SuperGrok Heavy subscription, which costs $300 a month. Tesla says access will expand to more subscription tiers, but hasn’t said when.
Tesla is also reportedly working on text messaging support and deeper integration with Full Self-Driving.
Why it matters
Cars are becoming the next battleground for AI agents. Meta’s Muse agent can now shop across Shopify stores, OpenAI and Anthropic are racing to build agents that act on your behalf, and Musk has an advantage no one else has: millions of Teslas on the road, many of them already running Grok. xAI says its Grok 4.7, released on Monday, has a native understanding of the Grok Bot system.
It also raises obvious questions. Handing an AI agent your email, calendar and payment details is a big leap of trust, and talking through your inbox while driving is still a distraction, even with your hands on the wheel. At $300 a month, only the most committed early adopters will find out how well it works for now.
Sources: Not a Tesla App, Teslarati, Drive Tesla Canada
