GM CEO Mary Barra says she instructed Biden to present Tesla and Musk EV credit score

Elon Musk stated in late November that he’s “tried to warn” legacy automakers and “even supplied to license Tesla Full Self-Driving, however they don’t need it,” expressing frustration with corporations that refuse to undertake the corporate’s suite, which can finally be autonomous.

Tesla has lengthy established itself because the chief in self-driving expertise, particularly in america. Though there are formidable rivals, Tesla’s FSD suite is essentially the most strong and isn’t restricted to sure areas or roadways. It operates anyplace and in all places.

The corporate’s present place because the chief in self-driving tech is being ignored by legacy automakers, a parallel to what Tesla’s place was with EV improvement over a decade in the past, which was additionally ignored by rivals.

The reluctance mirrors how legacy automakers initially dismissed EVs, solely to scramble in catch-up mode years later–a sample that highlights their historic underestimation of disruptive improvements from Tesla.

Elon Musk’s Self-Driving Licensing Makes an attempt

Musk and Tesla have tried to push Full Self-Driving to different automotive corporations, with no true suitors, regardless of ongoing conversations for years. Tesla’s FSD is aiming to change into extra strong by means of complete knowledge assortment and a bigger fleet, one thing the corporate has tried to ascertain by means of a subscription program, free trials, and different methods.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sends rivals dire warning about Full Self-Driving

Nevertheless, competing corporations haven’t wished to license FSD for a handful of speculative causes: aggressive satisfaction, regulatory considerations, excessive prices, or desire for in-house improvement.

Déjà vu All Over Once more

Tesla tried to painting the significance of EVs way back, as within the 2010s, executives from corporations like Ford and GM downplayed the significance of sustainable powertrains as area of interest or unprofitable.

Musk as soon as stated in a 2014 interview that rivals woke as much as electrical powertrains when the Mannequin S began to disrupt issues and gained some market share. Issues bought actually severe upon the launch of the Mannequin 3 in 2017, as a mass-market automobile was what Tesla was lacking from its lineup.

This precipitated legacy corporations to really get up; they had been dropping market share to Tesla’s new and thrilling tech that supplied much less upkeep, a recent tackle passenger auto, and different benefits. They had been late to the social gathering, and though they’ve all launched autos of their very own, they nonetheless lag in two main areas: gross sales and infrastructure, leaning on Tesla for the latter.

I’ve tried to warn them and even supplied to license Tesla FSD, however they don’t need it! Loopy …

When legacy auto does sometimes attain out, they tepidly focus on implementing FSD for a tiny program in 5 years with unworkable necessities for Tesla, so pointless. ????

? ?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2025

Musk’s previous warnings have been plentiful. In 2017, he responded to critics who acknowledged Tesla was chasing subsidies. He responded, “Few individuals know that we began Tesla when GM forcibly recalled all electrical automobiles from prospects in 2003 after which crushed them in a junkyard,” including that “they might be doing nothing” on EVs with out Tesla’s efforts.

Corporations laughed off Tesla’s prowess with EVs, solely to comprehend they’d made a grave mistake afterward.

It seems to be to be taking place as soon as once more.

A Sample of Underestimation

Each EVs and self-driving tech characterize main paradigm shifts that legacy gamers view as threats to their established enterprise fashions; it’s arduous to vary. Nevertheless, these early push-aways from new tech solely end in reactive methods afterward, often leading to what pains they’re dealing with now.

Ford is scaling again its EV effortsand GM’s initiatives are hurting. Though they each have in-house self-driving initiatives, they’re falling nicely behind the progress of Tesla and even different rivals.

It’s getting to some extent the place short-term threat will change into a long-term setback, they usually might need to depend on an organization to drag them out of a troublesome state of affairs afterward, simply because it did with Tesla and EV charging infrastructure.

Tesla has continued to innovate, whereas legacy automakers have lagged behind, and it has value them dearly.

Implications and Future Outlook

Shifting ahead, Tesla’s progress will proceed to speed up, whereas a dismissive angle by different corporations will proceed to penalize them, particularly as time goes on. Falling additional behind in self-driving may finally result in market share erosion, as autonomy could possibly be an important a part of automobile advertising inside the subsequent few years.

Finally, corporations could possibly be compelled into joint partnerships as financial pressures mount. Some corporations did this with EVs, however it has not resulted in very a lot.

Self-driving efforts aren’t solely a power for corporations themselves, however additionally they contribute to different issues, like affordability and security.

Tesla has exhibited knowledge that particularly reveals its self-driving tech is safer than human driversmost just lately by a substantial margin. This is able to assist with eliminating accidents and making roads safer.

Tesla’s new Security Report reveals Autopilot is 9 occasions safer than people

Moreover, competitors out there is an efficient factor, because it drives prices down and helps innovation proceed on an upward pattern.

Conclusion

The parallels are unmistakable: a decade in the past, legacy automakers laughed off electrical autos as toys for tree-huggers, crushed their very own EV applications, and wager all the pieces on the internal-combustion establishment–solely to look at Tesla redefine the business whereas they scrambled for billions in catch-up capital.

Immediately, the identical corporations are turning down repeated affords to license Tesla’s Full Self-Driving expertise, insisting they’ll construct higher autonomy in-house, whilst their very own applications stumble by means of recollects, layoffs, and missed milestones. Historical past will not be merely rhyming; it’s repeating nearly note-for-note.

Elon Musk has spent twenty years warning that the auto business’s bureaucratic inertia and short-term considering will go away it stranded on the mistaken aspect of technological revolutions. The query is not whether or not Tesla is forward–it’s whether or not the giants of Detroit, Stuttgart, and Toyota will lastly hear earlier than the following wave leaves them watching one other chief draw back within the rear-view mirror.

This time, the stakes aren’t simply market share; they’re the very definition of what a automotive will probably be within the a long time forward.