Tesla has worked with ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, and artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek to integrate their AI models into a newly-launched, long-wheelbase version of Model Y, a move expected to improve the voice assistant in its cars sold in China. Why it matters: It is probably China’s regulatory requirements that forced Tesla to seek local partners for its AI features. Tesla has integrated the Grok chatbot provided by Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI into vehicles in the US starting in July. Tesla’s collaboration with ByteDance and DeepSeek on using their AI models is probably at an early stage, since it is unknown when those AI models have or will come into play on Tesla’s Chinese cars, Bloomberg reported. International automakers and Chinese auto majors have been rushing to support AI models from large tech firms such as ByteDance, as well as promising startups.