China Approves First Foreign Auto AI Assistants: Mercedes in Beijing; Tesla, Volvo in Shanghai
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China approves the first foreign auto AI assistants—Mercedes in Beijing; Tesla and Volvo in Shanghai—paving the way for wider rollouts in 2026.
China has approved the first batch of foreign-developed AI assistants for public rollout, with Beijing greenlighting Mercedes-Benz’s “Virtual Assistant” and Shanghai approving Tesla’s “xBot” customer-service model and Volvo’s “XiaoWo” assistant. Regulators said the services met requirements for safety, data handling, and compliant content, marking a milestone for overseas automakers localizing AI in China.
Mercedes said its assistant—built to support the new all-electric CLA—offers natural-language voice control for navigation and in-cabin functions, with an updated interface featuring card-style shortcuts, ~0.2 s wake and ~0.8 s end-to-end execution (about 50% faster than the previous generation). The company targets service coverage of ~70,000 vehicles in 2026 as it expands availability.
Shanghai’s approvals cover two use cases. Tesla xBot embeds a large-model Q&A agent into the Tesla app to handle pre-sales, delivery, ownership, charging and service queries. Volvo “XiaoWo” provides text/voice assistance across the Volvo app, WeChat mini-programs and in-car voice, guiding users through purchase, maintenance and daily operations. City officials said Shanghai has registered more than 100 generative-AI services to date as part of its model filing regime.
The clearances underscore a broader shift as foreign brands adopt on-device plus cloud AI tailored to Chinese requirements, while China advances standards for software-defined vehicles and consumer AI services. Additional feature rollouts and coverage expansions are expected through 2026 as the approved assistants scale.
