[waiseristy]

Good summary! I think the core of what you talk about is a fundamental difference between a 21st and 20th century OEM. 20th century OEMs see software as a not only a hassle, but something that is isolated in discrete components and thus able to be “vendorized”. 21st century OEMs understand that the entire car is a software system, and they should be incredibly closely involved with every aspect of it.

There is room still for company’s that only can transition halfway though. It’s not like vendors cant make their discrete components OTA capable. Vendors will also be just as capable of pivoting to new silicon in the case of supply disruptions. Ford, Daimler, and the other usual suspects, are going to be more involved with their software, but they will still have vendors.

Tesla can get away with a lot of this creative homebrew craziness because they have such an insane software / hardware budget. I honestly don’t know what that company’s software practices would look like if they didn’t have such amazing access to cash