TSLA Stock Slips: Tesla's AI Chief Confirms Voice Commands For FSD Under Works

Tesla AI chief Ashok Elluswamy said that the company is working on voice commands for FSD.

• In June, Tesla CEO Elon Musk pegged the casual conversation functionality to be made available on FSD in about “3 months or so.”
• Tesla vehicles with recent software have access to xAI’s AI chatbot Grok in addition to traditional voice commands.
• Tesla and Musk are optimistic that FSD will enable full vehicle autonomy in time, taking out the need for human drivers.

Tesla’s head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, has confirmed the company is working on voice-based improvements to its Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assistance software following a detailed user suggestion.

On Tuesday, X user Chris proposed making FSD more practical in residential neighborhoods. He suggested allowing drivers to verbally direct the car to specific homes — for example, “the white house on the left, just past that SUV” — similar to instructing a human driver. The post highlighted current limitations, including the lack of precise input for driveways and frequent inaccuracies in Google Maps pin placement. It also called for the system to remember user-specific preferences for future trips.

Elluswamy, who leads AI development at Tesla, replied, “Working on it.” The executive provided no specific timeline for the feature rollout.

Tesla stock fell 3% at the time of writing.

Current Voice Commands On FSD

Tesla vehicles with recent software have access to xAI’s AI chatbot Grok in addition to traditional voice commands. But Grok also does not currently support voice commands for car controls other than navigation.

In June, Tesla CEO Elon Musk pegged the casual conversation functionality to be made available on FSD in about “3 months or so,” pinning the timeline around September 2026 at the earliest.

Tesla and Musk are optimistic that FSD will enable full vehicle autonomy in time, taking out the need for human drivers. However, the software has been plagued by safety concerns. Tesla’s FSD faces ongoing NHTSA investigations, including an active engineering analysis into its failure to detect poor visibility conditions and a separate probe into traffic violations such as running red lights and wrong-way maneuvers, alongside a new special investigation into a fatal June 2026 crash.

How Did TSLA Retail Traders React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around TSLA stock stayed within the bullish territory over the past 24 hours, while message volume stayed at high levels.

TSLA stock has fallen by about 13% year-to-date. 

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