Elon Musk says Tesla might ‘open source more code’ to other automakers

Elon Musk suggested Thursday during a Twitter Spaces with Ford CEO Jim Farley that Tesla might open up some of its automotive operating system code to other automakers. 

“In the same way that maybe Android is helpful to the phone industry as sort of a general standard, like we could potentially open source more code,” said Musk. If Tesla takes that leap it will compete with Google, which has developed an automotive operating system based on Android, as well as Apple. 

Musk was responding to Farley’s note that making a “fully software updatable vehicle” is “super hard.” The billionaire executive said Tesla would be happy to “be helpful on the software front.” 

Musk made the comment during a Twitter Spaces that was used to announce a milestone agreement between Tesla and Ford. Under the deal announced Thursday, Ford’s EV customers will get access to the Tesla Supercharging network in the U.S. and Canada. More importantly, Ford agreed to incorporate Tesla’s charging port into its second-generation of EVs, which includes a truck and three-row SUV, starting in 2025. 

Musk often spitballs ideas for Tesla at live events, some of which come to fruition and some of which don’t. If Tesla were to try to commercialize its over-the-air updatable software to other vehicles, it would put the automaker in direct competition with Google and Apple. 

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