This is an incredibly poorly thought out piece. Right from the beginning:
"Imagine what would happen if GM and Ford collaborated to invest in the components and architecture of a better public transport network -- and then licensed it for free to cities, states, and countries."
What? This is a completely bogus analogy with Google's browser strategy. A better public transport network in no way benefits GM/Ford to anywhere near the same extent that a better browser benefits Google. In fact it would quite possibly be detrimental to their business.
"Imagine what would happen if GM and Ford collaborated to invest in the components and architecture of a better public transport network -- and then licensed it for free to cities, states, and countries."
What? This is a completely bogus analogy with Google's browser strategy. A better public transport network in no way benefits GM/Ford to anywhere near the same extent that a better browser benefits Google. In fact it would quite possibly be detrimental to their business.