Tesla integrates Chinese Doubao AI model for in-vehicle systems

People visit the booth of TESLA at the Smart Vehicle Chain area of the third China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing, capital of China, July 19, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

SHANGHAI -- U.S. automaker Tesla has integrated Doubao, a large language model developed by technology firm ByteDance, into its electric vehicles sold in the Chinese mainland, according to Tesla China.

The onboard intelligent voice system, activated by a long press of the voice button on the steering wheel, offers a range of features such as casual conversation, singing, debate comprehension, storytelling, English dialogue coaching, and character role-play.

It also allows users to randomly switch between four vocal timbres and five operating modes.

Equipped with the integrated Doubao real-time dialogue model and an end-to-end voice interaction framework, the in-vehicle infotainment system has transcended the conventional "question-and-answer" walkie-talkie model, delivering a more natural, fluid, and initiative-taking interactive experience.

German carmaker Mercedes-Benz had expanded its partnership with ByteDance to integrate the Doubao large-language model into its electric vehicles in September 2025.

Chinese tech firms have recently made significant advances in developing artificial intelligence (AI) models. Alibaba unveiled its large language model, Qwen3.8-Max, on Aug. 3, marking a major upgrade in its Qwen series with advanced capabilities in coding, real-life work and research.

In July, the AI startup Moonshot AI released the model Kimi K3, which features 2.8 trillion parameters, making it the largest-parameter open-source AI model globally, the company said.

Experts noted a growing number of Chinese open-source large models are moving from individual breakthroughs to collective advances, offering new approaches to the global development of AI.