Sounds much like the whole Tucker scheme of the late 40's. That didn't turn out well, but I am sure the big 3 gained some valuable knowledge on the behalf of Tucker's ideas... We can look at it and say that the big 3 are doing things on their own and in parallel to Tesla, but the fact that Tesla was [pretty much] first to market and has probably innovated more and pushed the boundaries, they are the pioneers that will likely serve as the research test bed for the others... until they are no longer needed - which must be sometime around - Now.
Not a fan of these tactics and being an old car guy, hated what they did to Tucker - from when I first seen the movie in high school. This ain't cool.