Tesla has activated its Grok AI assistant inside vehicles across Australia and New Zealand, giving eligible owners a conversational AI tool built into the car’s touchscreen and steering-wheel controls. The rollout, confirmed through Tesla’s regional support pages, requires specific hardware and software thresholds, and it raises pointed questions about how driver data flows to xAI, the company behind Grok. For Australian and New Zealand Tesla owners weighing the convenience of in-car AI against data-sharing tradeoffs, the details matter more than the marketing pitch.
Hardware and Software Gates for Access
Not every Tesla on the road qualifies. According to Tesla’s Australian support information on Grok availability, the assistant requires three things: an AMD processor inside the vehicle, vehicle software version 2026.2.6 or later, and either a Premium Connectivity subscription or an active Wi-Fi connection. Vehicles with older Intel-based infotainment chips are excluded entirely, which means many pre-2022 Model 3 and Model Y units will not see the feature regardless of software updates. The AMD requirement effectively creates a hardware cutoff that splits the Tesla fleet into Grok-capable and Grok-excluded tiers, with no upgrade path currently described for owners of Intel-based cars.
The same eligibility criteria apply in New Zealand, as confirmed by Tesla’s regional Grok support page. Both jurisdictions describe identical access methods: drivers can open Grok through the App Launcher on the center display or by long-pressing the microphone button on the steering wheel. The voice-activation path is the more practical option while driving, since it avoids touchscreen interaction and keeps the driver’s eyes on the road. Tesla frames the assistant as capable of handling navigation commands and general queries, but neither regional support page offers a granular feature list, leaving some uncertainty about the full range of functions at launch in these markets.
What Grok Actually Does Behind the Wheel
The steering-wheel mic shortcut positions Grok as a hands-free layer over Tesla’s existing voice command system. Long-pressing the mic launches Grok directly, bypassing the standard Tesla voice assistant. For drivers, the difference is access to a large language model rather than a narrower command parser. That means open-ended questions, contextual follow-ups, and conversational requests become possible while the car is in motion, at least in theory. Drivers might ask for alternate routes, summaries of nearby amenities, or explanations of complex topics, treating the assistant more like a general-purpose AI than a traditional in-car command system.
The practical value depends heavily on connectivity. Premium Connectivity, Tesla’s paid data plan, keeps Grok available over cellular networks, enabling on-the-fly queries during commutes and road trips. Without that subscription, the assistant only works when the car is connected to Wi-Fi, which limits real-world usefulness to parked scenarios near a home or office network. This split means drivers who want Grok on the highway or during errands need to maintain a subscription, adding a recurring cost on top of the vehicle purchase. Tesla has not disclosed pricing changes to Premium Connectivity tied to Grok’s addition, but the feature clearly strengthens the perceived value of the subscription, potentially nudging more owners toward ongoing connectivity payments.
Data Collection and the xAI Privacy Framework
Every interaction with Grok flows through xAI’s infrastructure, not Tesla’s. That distinction matters because it means a separate company’s privacy rules govern what happens to voice inputs, text queries, and the AI’s responses. According to xAI’s published privacy policy, user inputs and outputs may be used for model improvement and training purposes. In plain terms, what a driver asks Grok in their car could end up as training data for future versions of the AI. The policy also describes retention practices in general terms, noting that data may be kept as needed for service delivery, security, and legal compliance, without specifying fixed deletion timelines or automatic purge schedules for routine interactions.
xAI’s policy further states that personal information may be disclosed to service providers, affiliates, and in response to legal requests, including law enforcement demands where applicable. For Australian and New Zealand drivers, this creates a layered data flow: voice data travels from the car to xAI’s servers, where it may be stored, used for training, and potentially shared with third parties under certain conditions. Neither Tesla’s Australian nor New Zealand support pages include region-specific privacy addendums or explicit references to local data protection frameworks. That gap is notable given that Australia’s Privacy Act regulates how personal information is collected, used, and disclosed, and New Zealand’s Privacy Act 2020 includes principles governing cross-border disclosures. In the absence of tailored regional disclosures, drivers must rely on xAI’s global policy to understand how their in-car conversations might be handled.
The Trust Gap in Connected Car AI
Most coverage of in-car AI focuses on convenience, but the more consequential story is about trust. Tesla is asking drivers to speak freely to a system that records, processes, and potentially retains their words for purposes beyond the immediate interaction. The xAI privacy policy is relatively clear that data can be used for improving services, yet it lacks the granular controls that privacy-conscious users in Australia and New Zealand might expect. There is no dedicated opt-out mechanism described for excluding one’s data from training, and no straightforward explanation of whether a driver can access, export, or delete a history of Grok interactions initiated from their vehicle.
This matters because the car is a uniquely intimate data environment. Unlike a phone app that a user opens deliberately and often alone, a voice assistant activated by a steering-wheel button captures speech in a shared space where passengers, children, and phone calls may also be present. The boundary between intentional queries and incidental capture depends entirely on how precisely the long-press activation works and whether the system ever listens beyond the active session. Tesla’s support pages do not address ambient listening behavior, buffer durations, or accidental activation safeguards in detail, leaving a significant informational gap for drivers trying to assess risk. Without clear technical assurances, some owners may assume a worst-case scenario and choose not to use the feature at all.
What This Means for Australian and NZ Tesla Owners
For drivers with AMD-equipped Teslas running software version 2026.2.6 or later, Grok is available now in both Australia and New Zealand. The activation process is straightforward: apply the latest software update, verify that Premium Connectivity or a reliable Wi-Fi connection is active, and launch the assistant through the App Launcher or by long-pressing the steering-wheel microphone button. Once enabled, Grok can supplement existing navigation tools by answering more nuanced location questions, help with planning stops, or provide general information on topics that come up during a drive, all without requiring a phone or separate device.
The tradeoff is data exposure under a privacy framework that permits broad use of interaction data. Every Grok session feeds information to xAI, where it may be stored, analyzed, and incorporated into future model iterations, with potential sharing under the circumstances outlined in the company’s policy. Drivers who are comfortable with that exchange gain a capable AI assistant integrated directly into their vehicle, with the convenience of hands-free queries and conversational responses. Those who are not comfortable with it have a simple mitigation option: avoid activating Grok via the touchscreen and refrain from long-pressing the steering-wheel mic, relying instead on Tesla’s existing, more limited voice commands or manual controls. Until Tesla or xAI provide clearer, region-specific assurances on data handling and user controls, the decision for Australian and New Zealand owners will hinge less on what Grok can do and more on how much they are willing to trust a connected car AI with their everyday conversations.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
