They keep switching the name, which does make it confusing. IIRC it was originally called Google TV back when Smart TVs became a thing (early 2010s) because I remember it being built into Sony TVs and thinking “wow this is awesome! It’s Android on a TV!”. That product eventually died because it was stupid expensive and clunky, and then they morphed it into the " layer on top of Android" like you said so other manufacturers could use it.
They keep switching the name, which does make it confusing. IIRC it was originally called Google TV back when Smart TVs became a thing (early 2010s) because I remember it being built into Sony TVs and thinking “wow this is awesome! It’s Android on a TV!”. That product eventually died because it was stupid expensive and clunky, and then they morphed it into the " layer on top of Android" like you said so other manufacturers could use it.