Tesla Europe has announced plans to add xAI’s Grok, an AI chatbot, to its vehicle infotainment systems in the UK and eight other European markets.
It remains to be seen whether the addition of this technology will revive European interest in buying Teslas.
Elon Musk’s automaker has seen a 27% drop in EV sales in Europe, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA). Tesla’s decline came as Europeans continued their strong push for battery electric vehicles. According to ACEA, BEVs are the only type Tesla makes and accounted for 17.4% of the overall European market in 2025. China’s BYD has gained market share across the continent with innovative and more affordable EV models.
Brand Finance said the brand’s appeal was weighed down last year by a lack of affordable new models, continued consumer backlash against Mr. Musk’s inflammatory political comments and support from anti-immigration extremists such as Tommy Robinson and Germany’s AfD party.
Tesla isn’t the only automaker to integrate chatbot functionality into its infotainment systems. For example, Volvo announced plans to add a Google Gemini-based conversational AI assistant to its EX60 electric car.
In its fourth quarter earnings update, Tesla revealed it invested $2 billion in Musk’s xAI.
Later, Musk’s aerospace and defense giant SpaceX acquired xAI in an all-stock deal, giving the combined company a value of $1.25 trillion.
Prior to these transactions, xAI merged with Social Network
As previously reported by CNBC, Grok allows users to easily create and share explicit deepfake images based on photos or clips of real people without their consent, including deepfake images depicting child sexual abuse.
Last summer, Grok generated and disseminated anti-Semitic hate speech across social network X praising Adolf Hitler, triggering an early regulatory investigation by the European Commission.
A Canadian Tesla owner raised alarm over a lack of safety equipment after installing a Grok in his car. Her son used Grok to generate funny comments about soccer players, and Grok responded by instructing minors to send nudes, CBC reported.
Tesla and xAI have not said whether they will be able to restrict minors’ access to Grok in Tesla cars, or whether the chatbot’s output will be made suitable for minors by default.
In addition to criticism of Grok’s lax safety guardrails, driver distraction remains a concern.
Mike Nelson, a partner at the Nelson Law Firm and an auto safety researcher, said his Tesla Model Y in the U.S. has Grok and he enjoys using it. But adding chatbot technology to a vehicle’s infotainment system introduces a new “layer of distraction” for drivers, he said.
“Research shows that even in hands-free mode, we are more easily distracted when talking on the phone or driving,” Nelson says. “Adding Grok introduces more stimulation.”
Raed Ghani, a professor of machine learning and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, told CNBC that researchers and regulators, especially insurance companies, should rush to conduct “practical evaluations” of chatbots.
He said that due to the lack of benchmarks and standards across the industry, “we still don’t understand drivers’ information needs, how well Grok and other chatbots meet those needs compared to other options, whether and exactly how chatbots have the potential to change driving behavior.”
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
