When did a truly innovative new feature last appear on a car? Not just a passing trend but a breakthrough against which the tide would never turn. Automatic gearboxes, seatbelts, ESC: you get the idea. Touchscreens definitely don’t qualify… 

You’d think the introduction of such features would be a regular occurrence in the electric era, yet however new and fast-improving EV technology may be, it is at its core a propulsion method. We’re seeing improved efficiency, range and charging times, but specific features that you can clearly remember first trying and then craving the next time you got in a car? Nope, not me. 

You know what’s coming next: ‘until now’. The new Grok AI voice assistant in the Tesla Model Y is incredible, a game-changer that enhances the car’s usability and enjoyment of journeys, and I’ve missed it in every other car I’ve driven since without it. 

Yes, it’s a voice control function, something that has been in cars for ages, but even the best ones have been largely useless, either unable to understand your instructions or unable to carry them out. Grok, on the other hand, is both willing and able to do most things it’s allowed to do in terms of controlling a car (or if it can’t, it will tell you and point you to the relevant touchscreen menu). It’s in essence a talking AI chatbot that has ingested the car’s manual and can also search the internet.

Long-press the microphone button on the steering wheel (or, after the latest software update, simply say “Hey, Grok”) and say, for example: “Navigate me to Bristol city centre and find me a car park. I’d like to arrive with 60% battery. On the way I’d like to visit a Costa coffee shop.” Within seconds, the route is in the sat-nav, charging stops are decided for you and your hot drink is lined up. 

Given that the typical response I’ve got from car voice recognition systems to date has been “sorry, I’m unable to carry out that function”, this is some progress. 

But it’s so much more than a way of controlling the car and its various functions: it’s the internet in your car in a non-distracting way. For example, driving on the M4 one Saturday early evening, the Plymouth Argyle football team’s coach was driving the other way. I asked Grok who they had played and what the score was. It was a good day for The Pilgrims and an even better one for my curiosity. 

I’ve asked it about the weather at my destination, about how busy a charging station ahead was, about parking fees at a car park, about train frequencies – all the aspects of a journey where you usually think ‘I’ll Google that later’. 

I’ve also asked it all sorts of other things, such as whether my football team’s game was on the red button that evening and even about a running technique after I’d pulled a calf muscle and was keen to keep exercising (run more on your heels and get the weight over your stride, I was told; it worked). It can sound tenuous, but it really is useful. 

As I noted in a previous report, voice control functions have been touted by car makers as a way to control functions in the absence of physical buttons amid the rise of touchscreens. Given how poor the large majority of these systems are, it has felt like a lazy justification. 

To date, Grok has tripped up only when I asked it for a scenic route home (it tried to take me about as far away from home as I was at that current point) and for the specific identifying features of a Launch Series version of the Model Y. 

There’s a wider point to consider about the quality of this feature. Take the badges and bumpers off electric family crossovers and you would be hard-pressed to tell many apart, not just in the way they look but also in the way they drive. The need to house a large battery between the axles dictates the proportions and dimensions and then the dynamic make-up to deal with the weight. Some are better, some are worse, of course, but nearly all have more in common than they don’t, meaning many a buying decision will come down to price and proximity to and trust in one’s local dealer. So how can a car stand out in such a class? 

In the case of the Model Y, it’s a killer feature that if embraced can be transformative to the way you use and enjoy a car.