Sadly Saying Goodbye

[Kamuelaflyer]

Sure, Musk is a co-founder of Tesla

No, he is not. He was an early investor, he neither helped found the company nor provided them with their seed money. Wanting it be so doesn’t make it so.

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[ryannix123]

For me the main reason I want Android Auto (and for my wife Car Play) is the navigation. See, when I buy them, it is "for life". Long past when I trust automakers to support things like this. Sure, I could use my phone separately, but it is so much nicer to use the built-in screen.

There is also something that stick in my craw, GM's CEO saying, "We don't make displays". The fact that the CEO has no concern of what a lot of his customers want, tells me that when it comes to other features it is probably "You take the features I want to make, and like it.".

Google and Apple will make better software than Ford and GM. Sorry, but it's just a fact. So, each new OS update will bring updates to Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, likely chock-full of great new features that enhance the driving experience. I love the new CarPlay features in iOS 26. GM made a huge tactical mistake in discontinuing support for CarPlay.

 

[ryannix123]

No, he is not. He was an early investor, he neither helped found the company nor provided them with their seed money. Wanting it be so doesn’t make it so.

Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors in 2003, with Ian Wright joining soon after as an early employee and later recognized as a co-founder. JB Straubel joined in 2004 and was later acknowledged as a co-founder. Elon Musk entered the picture in February 2004, leading the Series A funding round with a $6.5 million investment (out of $7.5 million total), becoming chairman and later CEO. His early involvement went beyond funding—he shaped Tesla’s strategic direction, product development, and mission to accelerate electric vehicle adoption.

The debate over Musk’s “founder” status stems from a 2009 lawsuit by Eberhard, who claimed Musk overstated his role. However, legal documents, company records, and Tesla’s own statements confirm Musk as a co-founder alongside Eberhard, Tarpenning, Wright, and Straubel. Musk’s contributions, including his capital infusion and leadership, were critical to Tesla’s survival and growth, especially in its precarious early years.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors in 2003, with Ian Wright joining soon after as an early employee and later recognized as a co-founder. JB Straubel joined in 2004 and was later acknowledged as a co-founder. Elon Musk entered the picture in February 2004, leading the Series A funding round with a $6.5 million investment (out of $7.5 million total), becoming chairman and later CEO. His early involvement went beyond funding—he shaped Tesla’s strategic direction, product development, and mission to accelerate electric vehicle adoption.

The debate over Musk’s “founder” status stems from a 2009 lawsuit by Eberhard, who claimed Musk overstated his role. However, legal documents, company records, and Tesla’s own statements confirm Musk as a co-founder alongside Eberhard, Tarpenning, Wright, and Straubel. Musk’s contributions, including his capital infusion and leadership, were critical to Tesla’s survival and growth, especially in its precarious early years.

You can defend him all you like. The fact remains he did not found the company nor provide their startup capital. That is the definition of a founder.

 

[ChrisO]

I have a GM vehicle, it is Android Automotive based OS, and has Google Maps built in. It also has access to the Google Playstore and can download many apps directly to the vehicle, such as Waze, ABRP, Plugshare, any music streaming app (except Apple Music). All these apps update automatically independent of OTAs. You can also set the vehicle to use your phone hotspot, instead of having to use a paid subscription for OnStar to connect the vehicle.

Google maps has a great EV route planning app when connected to the vehicle, and it has the Waze incident reporting on top of that. And new chargers get added to the database as they open up, no waiting for OTAs to get Tesla added.

Thank you for information. I wasn't aware of the fact that the GM vehicles support Android Auto. With the CEO stating that "we don't make displays" I was under the impression that they didn't support Android Auto.

We are using Google Maps in our Mach-E and yes, we have found it to be great for routing trips, it even has pre-conditioning on the Mach-E. Does GM support that too? (This one is "nice to have" for us, but we don't live where it gets really cold so it isn't much a big deal and can also be a non-issue if there is manual pre-conditioning, which the Mach-E lacks.)

I will have to put it back in "might consider list".

 

[voxel]

Google and Apple will make better software than Ford and GM. Sorry, but it's just a fact. So, each new OS update will bring updates to Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, likely chock-full of great new features that enhance the driving experience. I love the new CarPlay features in iOS 26. GM made a huge tactical mistake in discontinuing support for CarPlay.

And QNX makes better car OSes than Google/Apple.

Almost all vehicles use QNX with some hypervisor setup where Android Automotive OS (different from AA on your phone) runs on top of it. You can have access to all your favorite Google apps with AAOS.

CarPlay can return any time in a GM EV like it does on a Polestar 2 that runs AAOS with CarPlay connection but why? Native google maps works so much better than glitchy phone projection. CarPlay is Satan's spawn.

 

[ChrisO]

And QNX makes better car OSes than Google/Apple.

Almost all vehicles use QNX with some hypervisor setup where Android Automotive OS (different from AA on your phone) runs on top of it. You can have access to all your favorite Google apps with AAOS.

CarPlay can return any time in a GM EV like it does on a Polestar 2 that runs AAOS with CarPlay connection but why? Native google maps works so much better than glitchy phone projection. CarPlay is Satan's spawn.

That makes sense, you need a real time operating system like QNX for controlling the hardware.

And yes, I missed the distinction between Android Automotive and AA, having Android Automotive is the better choice, but I do wonder about the long-term support since that would come from the car manufacturer.

 

[ryannix123]

You can defend him all you like. The fact remains he did not found the company nor provide their startup capital. That is the definition of a founder.

He is legally listed as a cofounder. Musk is an engineer by trade and made many contributions both to the engineering and financially. It’s not like he was Mike Markula to Steve Jobs.

 

[ryannix123]

And QNX makes better car OSes than Google/Apple.

Almost all vehicles use QNX with some hypervisor setup where Android Automotive OS (different from AA on your phone) runs on top of it. You can have access to all your favorite Google apps with AAOS.

CarPlay can return any time in a GM EV like it does on a Polestar 2 that runs AAOS with CarPlay connection but why? Native google maps works so much better than glitchy phone projection. CarPlay is Satan's spawn.

With Google, you are the product

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

He is legally listed as a cofounder.

No. He. Is . Not. He makes that claim. The court battles are public documents. He was able to successfully pull off what amounted to a hostile takeover because the A series bonds allowed the bondholders to do so under certain circumstances, and his position as Chairman due to his $6 million investment. Google Scholar is your friend.

And he’s not a particularly good engineer. He’s an investor. Nothing more.

 

[Jimrpa]

Thank you for information. I wasn't aware of the fact that the GM vehicles support Android Auto. With the CEO stating that "we don't make displays" I was under the impression that they didn't support Android Auto.

We are using Google Maps in our Mach-E and yes, we have found it to be great for routing trips, it even has pre-conditioning on the Mach-E. Does GM support that too? (This one is "nice to have" for us, but we don't live where it gets really cold so it isn't much a big deal and can also be a non-issue if there is manual pre-conditioning, which the Mach-E lacks.)

I will have to put it back in "might consider list".

Android Auto and Android Automotive are two different things. You won’t be able to use anything on your phone (barring, of course, the phone and some kind of access to your media library). Think “Bluetooth connection to a proprietary manufacturer infotainment system” as an analogy.

 

[Jimrpa]

CarPlay is Satan's spawn.

Really? Care to offer specific, repeatable examples?
I should note that, on the Mustang Mach-E, my preferred navigation app is the native navigation app, but I’ve used Apple Maps in both the Mustang Mach-E and other vehicles (rental cars from a variety of manufacturers). I’ve never had any serious problems with wired or wireless CarPlay.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

"The Oracle of Pretoria"
"Space Karen"
"Apartheid Clyde"

You left out, "World's Richest Dude"

None of those are things to be proud of.

 

[ryannix123]

No. He. Is . Not. He makes that claim. The court battles are public documents. He was able to successfully pull off what amounted to a hostile takeover because the A series bonds allowed the bondholders to do so under certain circumstances, and his position as Chairman due to his $6 million investment. Google Scholar is your friend.

And he’s not a particularly good engineer. He’s an investor. Nothing more.

"He's not a good engineer." He wrote his own code initially during the PayPal years, even though he had a double major in Physics and Economics.

According to a detailed analysis from TT Consultants in 2024, Elon Musk is named as an inventor on 28 patents across various industries, primarily tied to his ventures with Tesla, Zip2, and MyWay.com!

Elon Musk is officially recognized as a co-founder of Tesla, Inc. This designation comes from a 2009 lawsuit settlement with Martin Eberhard, which allowed five individuals—Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning, Ian Wright, JB Straubel, and Elon Musk—to be named co-founders of Tesla. Tesla was incorporated in July 2003 by Eberhard and Tarpenning, with Musk joining in 2004 through a significant investment of $6.35 million in the Series A funding round, becoming the majority shareholder and chairman of the board.

 

[AZBill]

Thank you for information. I wasn't aware of the fact that the GM vehicles support Android Auto. With the CEO stating that "we don't make displays" I was under the impression that they didn't support Android Auto.

We are using Google Maps in our Mach-E and yes, we have found it to be great for routing trips, it even has pre-conditioning on the Mach-E. Does GM support that too? (This one is "nice to have" for us, but we don't live where it gets really cold so it isn't much a big deal and can also be a non-issue if there is manual pre-conditioning, which the Mach-E lacks.)

I will have to put it back in "might consider list".

No, they do not support "Android Auto", that is a phone connection with projection (like CarPlay). They have Android Automotive OS running on the vehicle with Google Application Services, that is different. Many people confuse the two terms. But the center screen itself works very much like an Android phone.

GM has both automatic pre-conditioning, and a manual pre-conditioning button as well. It also posts a pre-conditioning message and has a ready status.

I can plan trips in Google Maps on my iPhone, then send the trip to my vehicle. I am logged into my Google account in my truck, it is basically one of my devices.

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