https://9to5google.com/2019/01/22/google-fuchsia-poaches-mac...
But yeah my impression is that it isn't meant to replace Andrdoid, but that they want to use it in places where a full Android doesn't make sense, like in their smart display devices or other future categories. Or maybe it's really just a retainer project for engineers.
Another reason people think it's real is that there was a lot of press a couple of years ago about something called "Andromeda" that was meant to combine Android and ChromeOS into one project. This was then supposedly shelved in favor of Fuchsia:
https://www.vox.com/2016/10/3/13149670/google-new-os-androme... https://twitter.com/hallstephenj/status/871456529160863745
But you'd probably know more about that than me :)
Let me make one thing very clear: nobody gives a flying fuck about Fuchsia. Nobody. It was and remains a project that people who want to do something fun go to when google thinks that they are valuable enough to keep around.
It is not the future of anything. It is not even remotely capable of doing anything serious. For fuck's sake, go look at the code - it is all out in the open! The scheduler is a JOKE. SMP support too. Power management is nonexistent. Driver support? HAHA!
The most important part about message-passing microkernels? The tuning for the message-passing. None of that is anywhere to be seen either...
Oh, and app support.. Where is that? Yeah, one could go the chromeos way and try to make an android compatibility layer - it is very hard and never 100% compatible, and relies on having a linux kernel. And then why bother with a new OS? Or one could go the microsoft way and pay app developers to write apps for the new SDK. How did that go for windows phone? Or one could make a VM and run android in it, but then why bother with a new kernel anyways, if everything will be in a linux vm? Linux runs just fine on hardware as is.
Basically a group of people did all the fun parts of writing an OS and did not do all of the boring hard-to-get-right pieces.
I have no idea why the whole world keeps thinking Fuchsia is serious, when they can see the code all along and note that it is a joke.