Musk says that Tesla may be able to run a version of Grōk natively
Not a Tesla App
Elon Musk's new venture, xAI, revealed its first-ever product last week. Musk has hinted at possibly incorporating a more compact iteration of this AI tool into Tesla's suite of vehicle technologies.
The day after the announcement, a well-known Tesla advocate, Chuck Cook (via Teslarati), noticed that Musk showed interest in a social media update positing that Grōk, xAI's AI model, might soon operate directly within Tesla's computing environment. Responding to the discussion by Cook, Musk suggested that Tesla could potentially host the world's most robust inference computation provided it can support Grōk's framework.
Musk posted: Provided our vehicle AI computer can run the model, Tesla will probably have the most usable inference compute on Earth.
Even in a robotaxi future, the cars will only be used for ~1/3 of hours/week, leaving 2/3 for distributed inference, like SETI.
Getting to Know Grōk
The precise roles that Grōk will fill in Tesla's ecosystem are still somewhat ambiguous. However, some conjecture points to its potential use as an upgrade to the vehicle's existing voice commands. The social media snippet acknowledged by Musk indicated the SuperPrompt aspect of Grōk could be designed to handle up to 25,000 characters and would initially pull live content from a designated X platform.
Plans are also in motion at xAI to create an application programming interface (API) for Grōk, with expectations set for the model to possess both auditory and visual recognition abilities.
More Grōk Changes Coming
These updates follow Musk's previous statement offering Grōk to X service's Premium Plus subscribers, with packages starting at $16 monthly. This strategic move occurred shortly after Musk introduced xAI, signaling the firm's entrance into the software domain, with Grōk being its initial launch.
On Friday, Musk reassured that the early beta phase would not hinder Premium Plus subscribers from getting their hands on the software. By Saturday, xAI, with Musk at the helm, had officially rolled out Grōk to its Premium Plus clientele, with comprehensive details listed on the company's web portal.
Additionally, the xAI website's career section actively posts job openings across four categories: AI engineering and research, data engineering and web operations, full-stack web development, and systems infrastructure.
In August, xAI used its social platform to reach out to creative talents, educators, and content curators to advance its AI models. This call to action was primarily aimed at individuals with a knack for writing and deep knowledge in specific areas, inviting them to engage with the company directly.
Provided our vehicle AI computer is able to run the model, Tesla will probably have the most amount of true usable inference compute on Earth.
Even in a robotaxi future, the cars will only be used for ~1/3 of hours/week, leaving 2/3 for distributed inference, like SETI.
Tesla signaled its intention to launch its first Robotaxi network in Austin, Texas, with company-owned and operated vehicles, back in January. This network will be Tesla’s first foray into truly autonomous vehicles - ones that aren’t being directly supervised by a driver. Later in February, Tesla’s executive team confirmed that the plans were on track for the launch of the Austin network both on X and during several interviews that they participated in.
At the end of February, we also found out that Tesla has applied for a Supervised Robotaxi license in California, where the network will also launch, but with safety drivers in place.
This is an ambitious plan, but FSD has really come a long way in the past year. FSD V12 was a massive step forward from V11, and V13 has made the experience smoother and safer than ever before. FSD V14 is expected to be another big step up with auto-regressive transformers and audio input.
Still on Track
Now, Elon has tripled down on the fact that Tesla will be launching their first autonomous robotaxi network in Austin - just two months away at this point. It seems that Tesla is fully set to launch their first fully unsupervised self-driving vehicles that will carry paying passengers in June.
Additional Cities
The best part is that Elon also confirmed that they’re targeting robotaxi networks launching in many cities within the United States by the end of this year. However, remember that this will be a Tesla-run network at first - Tesla owners won’t be able to add their vehicles to the Robotaxi fleet right away.
Adding Customer Vehicles
It will take some time before Tesla meets their strict internal safety requirements before it lets customers add their own vehicles to the network. Tesla’s executive team mentioned that they intend to let owners add their own vehicles to the fleet sometime in 2026. This happens to be the same time frame that Tesla plans to launch the Robotaxi across the United States, Mexico, and Canada — something that could only be done with customer-owned cars.
That final step will be bold—and it may come with complications, especially given that autonomous vehicle approval spans municipal, state or provincial, and even federal levels. There are plenty of regulatory hurdles ahead, but this is undoubtedly shaping up to be one of the most exciting times for Tesla.
Launch Event
With the Robotaxi network launching and Unsupervised FSD just around the corner, there’s a lot to get excited about. Tesla is expected to host a launch event at Gigafactory Texas in Austin to mark the debut of its first Robotaxi network. The company previously hinted that referral code users could receive invites—offering a rare chance to score an early ride in a Robotaxi outside the Hollywood studio lot.
Tesla’s engineering mule vehicles—used to test autonomy for future platforms—have resurfaced after an extended absence. The last time we saw them was back in July, when Tesla was gearing up for its initial We, Robot event. Since then, sightings have been scarce.
These vehicles typically signal that Tesla is testing new camera placements or validating FSD ground-truth data. This time, however, they appear to be outfitted exclusively with the updated camera hardware seen on the Cybercab.
New Sightings
The mules have now been spotted in Boston, Massachusetts, and Concord, New Hampshire—their first known appearances this far east. This suggests Tesla is actively collecting data to evaluate and optimize FSD performance in new regions. Thanks to Reddit user Ready_Medium_6693 for catching the one in Concord.
Elon Musk recently mentioned that Tesla plans to expand Robotaxi networks beyond the initial Texas and California launches. So while these sightings aren’t entirely unexpected, the speed of their arrival is. It suggests Tesla is confident in its ability to train FSD for local traffic rules and driving behaviors to the point it no longer needs a driver.
Bumper Cameras
The vehicle that’s been spotted in Boston is the usual Tesla engineering Model 3… except with one unique twist. It includes a front bumper camera. Shout out to @Dylan02939106 for catching the bumper camera in these photos.
The Refreshed Model 3 Mule with a Bumper Camera!
@Dylan02939106 on X
We previously released an opinion piece regarding whether the front bumper camera would be required for Unsupervised FSD. In our eyes, Tesla will require a bumper camera for Unsupervised FSD - if only to improve direct visibility in the bumper area of the vehicle. This is key for low-speed maneuvering in crowded areas like parking lots and garages, as well as for key features like Actually Smart Summon.
It isn’t surprising that Tesla is continuing to evaluate vehicles with a bumper camera - the Cybertruck, Cybercab, and Refreshed Model Y all have them now - and the rest of the lineup, including the flagship Model S and X, as well as the refreshed Model 3 - were supposed to eventually receive them as well.
With the Model S and Model X set for refreshes this year—and the front bumper camera on this Model 3 looking well-integrated rather than a temporary setup—it seems likely that front bumper cameras will soon become standard across Tesla’s entire lineup.
The Robotaxi Mule in Boston
@Dylan02939106 on X
In fact, Tesla’s newest iteration of the FSD computer has a slot for the Bumper Camera on all AI4/HW4 vehicles, so a future retrofit could even be possible.
These are some pretty exciting times - we may see Robotaxi networks actually deploy in time for Tesla’s lofty goal of “sometime in 2026” for cities throughout North America. Once many American cities begin to accept their deployment, it will be easier to seek homologation in Mexico and Canada, enabling deployment throughout the continent.
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