Tesla has steadily transformed its voice controls from basic keyword commands into a full-fledged conversational companion with Grok. Ever since SpaceXAI’s chatbot arrived on vehicle screens, engineers have gradually expanded what drivers can do without lifting a hand from the wheel. Now, official documentation reveals that text messaging is next in line.
We spotted the upcoming capability inside Tesla’s official Model Y owner’s manual, where an updated overview outlines what Grok can do when set to the Assistant personality. Under the listed capabilities, Tesla explicitly mentions:
“Text messaging: Ask Grok to send a text message to a contact or phone number (for example, “Text Mom saying on my way”).”
While Grok can already control a lot of vehicle functions and even make phone calls, text messaging isn’t currently supported. For reference, here’s what Tesla’s owner’s manual says Grok can do at this time:
Navigation: Ask Grok to search for a location or add/remove a destination from your navigation route.
Phone calls: Ask Grok to call a contact or dial a phone number (for example, "Call John Doe" or "Dial 650-555-1234").
Media search and play: Ask Grok to search for and play media content.
Controls panel search: Ask Grok about your Tesla to search and navigate to vehicle settings in the Controls panel.
Vehicle commands: Ask Grok to adjust common vehicle controls such as climate temperature, seat heating and cooling, steering wheel heating, and the glove box.
Vehicle questions: Ask Grok questions about your vehicle. Grok can answer using information from the Owner's Manual.
From General Knowledge to In-Cabin Control
Grok has grown into a core part of the cabin experience since Tesla first debuted it in update 2025.26 last year. It was only available in the U.S. at first, but availability quickly spread north into Canada, followed by rollouts in Australia, New Zealand, and, more recently, the entirety of Europe and several Asian countries.
Over the past year, the chatbot has gone from simply answering trivia questions to actively managing the car. Drivers received Grok navigation support to set routes and add waypoints purely through voice. Soon after, Tesla introduced location-based reminders powered by Grok, allowing drivers to request prompts like a shout-out to grab groceries out of the frunk once they pull into their driveway.
That integration deepened further when Tesla added vehicle commands to Grok earlier this summer, granting the assistant access to internal systems like climate controls, defrosters, and settings menu toggles.
A Stepping Stone to FSD Integration
Tesla vehicles have long supported standard voice-to-text dictation through connected Bluetooth phones and standard voice commands. However, routing communication through Grok allows the system to parse conversational context, clean up phrasing, and compose messages much more naturally. Instead of wrestling with rigid phrasing to send a quick update to family, drivers can speak naturally while keeping eyes glued to traffic.
Handling incoming and outgoing SMS turns the chatbot into even more of a personal secretary behind the wheel, but text messaging is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Tesla appears to be working on Grok Bot integration to connect vehicle cabins with external AI agents, while Elon Musk previously confirmed that Grok will be able to control Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in future updates.
There’s no word yet on when Grok text messaging could arrive. We recently also discovered a new FSD-powered Automatic Collision Evasion feature buried inside Tesla’s owner’s manual, and that went live earlier this week. With text messaging support already documented in the user manual, any upcoming over-the-air update could activate the feature for drivers.
