Elon Musk said Thursday during a Twitter Space with Ford CEO Jim Farley that Tesla might share some of its automobile operating system code with other automakers.
Musk suggested open-sourcing more code “in the same way that maybe Android is helpful to the phone industry as sort of a general standard.” But, of course, Tesla will compete with Google and Apple if it makes that move.
Farley said developing a “fully software updatable vehicle” is “super hard,” and Musk replied. However, Tesla wants to “be helpful on the software front,” the billionaire stated.
Musk said it during a Tesla-Ford milestone announcement on Twitter Spaces. The arrangement announced Thursday gives Ford EV customers access to Tesla Supercharging in the U.S. and Canada.
More importantly, Ford will incorporate Tesla’s charging connector into its second-generation EVs, including a truck and three-row SUV, starting in 2025.
Musk pitches Tesla concepts at live events, some of which are realized. For example, Tesla would compete with Google and Apple if it commercialized its over-the-air updatable software for other vehicles.
Google gives automakers Android Automotive O.S., a Linux-based version of its open-source mobile O.S. Apple said in June that its next-generation CarPlay would power a vehicle’s instrument cluster. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connect a phone to a car’s infotainment system.
Musk and Farley also suggested supply chain alliances Thursday.
Ford’s CEO asked Musk about Tesla’s new Corpus Christi lithium refining plant. Ford has signed lithium supply agreements with Albemarle and SQM.
Musk reiterated that he wished Tesla didn’t have to fill the gap left by U.S. entrepreneurs in raw materials mining and processing. The business has a nickel-based cathode refinery in Austin and may have to make anodes, but “hopefully not.”
Musk predicted a massive market for synthetic graphite, the key ingredient in lithium-ion anodes.
Despite competing, the CEOs have been amicable. Musk has repeatedly lauded the carmaker, emphasizing that only Tesla and Ford have escaped bankruptcy. Like legacy manufacturers, Ford wants to overtake Tesla as the top U.S. EV seller. Ford must improve.
Ford sold 61,575 U.S. electric vehicles in 2022. Tesla sold 1.3 million E.V.s. Sales are not country-specific. Over the past two years, Ford lost $3 billion on its Model E E.V. and digital services division. However, the business expects Model E to be profitable in late 2026 with an 8% operating profit margin. Ford’s gas-powered engines made up for those losses.
Ford plans to produce 600,000 EVs by 2023 and 2 million by 2026. Tesla intends to produce 1.8 million cars in 2023 at a 50% compound annual growth rate.
