Elon Musk suggested Thursday in one Twitter Space with Ford CEO Jim Farley that Tesla could open up some of its car operating system code to other automakers.
“In the same way that Android can be useful to the phone industry as a common standard, in the same way we have the ability to open source more code,” Musk said. If Tesla makes that leap, it will compete with Google, which has developed an Android-based car operating system, as well as Apple.
Musk responded to Farley’s note that creating a “completely up-to-date vehicle” was “extremely difficult.” The billionaire executive said Tesla would be happy to be “helpful on the software front”.
Musk made the comment in the Twitter Spaces used to announce an important deal between Tesla and Ford. Under the deal announced Thursday, Ford electric vehicle customers will have access to the Tesla Supercharge network for a period of time. USA and Canada. More importantly, Ford has agreed to incorporate Tesla’s charging port into its second generation of electric vehicles, including trucks and three-row SUVs, starting in 2025.
Musk often pitches ideas to Tesla at live events, some of which have come to fruition and some that have not. If Tesla tries to commercialize its over-the-air updateable software for other vehicles, it will put the automaker in direct competition with Google and Apple.
Google provides car manufacturers Android car OS, modeled after the open source mobile operating system running on Linux and modified for use in cars. Apple also jumped into the OS game last June when it announced that is CarPlay Next Generation intended to power the entire instrument cluster of the vehicle. Both tech companies also offer a middleware product called Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to connect a user’s phone to the car’s infotainment system.
Supply Chain Partnerships
Musk and Farley also hinted on Thursday of other potential future partnerships, including in the supply chain.
Ford CEO questioned Musk about Tesla’s new product Corpus Christi . Lithium Refinery. Ford recently struck a series of dealsincluding with Albemarle and SQM, to ensure the automaker’s lithium accessibility.
Musk reiterated past struggles that there aren’t enough entrepreneurs in the U.S. digging into the mining and processing of raw materials, and that he wishes Tesla didn’t have to take the slack. He said the company has a nickel-based cathode refinery in Austin and may also have to be involved in anode production, but “hopefully not.”
Musk noted that there will be a huge market for synthetic graphite (graphite is the main material in most lithium-ion anodes).
The two CEOs are still friendly though compete with each other. Musk has praised the automaker in the past, noting that only Tesla and Ford have avoid bankruptcy.
Ford, like other established automakers, is still aiming to overtake Tesla as the #1 seller of electric vehicles in the United States. Ford has a way to go.
In 2022, Ford sold 61,575 electric vehicles in the US Tesla sold 1.3 million electric vehicles globally. The company does not break down sales by country. For the past two years, Ford has said lost about 3 billion USD of its electric vehicle and digital services businesses, a unit now known as Model e. The company doesn’t expect the Model e to be profitable until the end of 2026 with an 8% operating margin. However, Ford’s traditional gas-powered units were profitable enough to cover those losses.
In terms of production, Ford aims to reach 600,000 EVs by the end of 2023 and 2 million by the end of 2026.
Tesla says it wants to achieve a compound annual growth rate of 50% by 2023, meaning the automaker will produce 1.8 million cars.
