Yesterday, a Tesla employee shared a video announcing that Grok Companions will soon be coming to Tesla vehicles. The employee shared a video announcing an assistant named Mūn. The employee soon deleted the video, only to have another employee confirm that the feature was coming this November.
There was controversy over the polarizing feature on X, and soon Musk responded, stating, “Not true.”
Many users were relieved that Tesla wasn’t launching a version of Grok’s Ani on Teslas. However, there’s probably a lot more to this story than was revealed on X.
For those not familiar with Grok, Companions are 3D avatars in the Grok app that let you view and interact with an animated figure when asking questions or having a conversation.
What Was Mūn?
The assistant shown in the video is named Mūn (pronounced Moon). It was a personality and face for Grok. Think of it as a specialized skin or mode that was designed to make the in-car experience more personal and intuitive. Instead of talking to a headless glowing entity, you’re talking to Mūn, right on your car’s screen.
While Grok has multiple modes, along with various personalities, Mūn could have been a purpose-built option tailored for the driving environment. In the video, she introduces herself as “Hey! My name is Mūn, your personal Tesla companion, here to answer any questions.”
The companion would presumably be available on the rear screen or on the front display while parked. It also came with its own X handle (@M).
— Andrew Curran (@AndrewCurran_) September 15, 2025
Advantages of an Avatar
It’s not too hard to see how an avatar, especially one like Rudi, could be beneficial. If you couple Grok’s ‘Kids Mode,’ which is already available in Teslas, with Rudi on the rear screen, it could entertain and interact with kids on the rear screen by creating personalized stories, answering questions and more.
An avatar could also walk you through a demo of how to adjust your vehicle mirrors or enable Dog Mode, right on your screen. It definitely fits the futuristic element of having an AI assistant interacting with the same controls you’d normally interact with.
Avatars have other benefits as well, such as using sign language or gestures and expressions that can make communication easier.
Inverted World Live is my new favorite weeknight indulgence (Mon-Thu). Prompted Grok’s Good Rudi to dish an under-a-minute wacky and creative recap.🤪 @InvertedTales @ShaneCashman @iamalexayala @BrandoInverted @Timcast pic.twitter.com/byCGODswbv
— KJ (@kjb_me) August 9, 2025
Is Tesla Really Not Doing It?
Musk loves Ani, Grok’s in-app persona, so it’s not surprising to see a feature like this pop up. However, vehicles need to appeal to a wide audience. Mūn, like Grok’s Ani, is overly sexualized, and it wouldn’t be surprising if that turned some people off the brand.
Unfortunately, Musk didn’t go into details on whether Tesla was testing avatars in Teslas or whether the whole thing is made up. Given that two employees shared it, it’s likely that Tesla was considering it, but recently decided not to implement it.
Our Take
Our take is that there’s some truth to this leak. Whether Tesla will actually release it is a whole other story, but it sounds like Tesla was planning to, or was at least experimenting with creating Grok companions for use in Teslas.
With these avatars available in the Grok app and Tesla having already integrated Grok and even a wake word in the new Model Y L in China, it’s not too far of a leap to think that they’d add avatars next.
Maybe Tesla has decided to scrap the feature or change it before introducing it in the future, potentially replacing Mūn with more family-friendly versions.
The reception to the avatar on X wasn’t good, so that could even have been the final nail in the coffin that led Musk to say that Tesla is not doing this.
There are likely a lot of Tesla features that end up on the cutting room floor, and this could be one of them. While Mūn may be dead, we wouldn’t be surprised if we see some version of a 3D avatar in the future.
