[repolfx]

That's simply not true is it - there are plenty of people who have made their own Android ROMS using the released code, and Android still comes with the same set of apps it always did. Yes, Google has often made better apps that compete with the built in open source ones, but you can still get a very capable and powerful mobile OS for free just by downloading it. And as for proprietary drivers, well that's the hw vendors not Google doing that.

[scarface74]

It doesn’t matter who is doing it. You can’t build a working Android system without binary closed source drivers.

No manufacturer can build an Android device using just AOSP even with proprietary drivers and hope to be competitive in any western market.