Also, it sure seems like level 5 autonomous driving is just a few steps short of general AI, which is still lightyears away.
This is obvious even now with the Waymo v Uber lawsuit.
Note that being in the race just means they have a plan in place. Car makers partner all the time - it is common to see the same car from several different makes with only the logo changed, or an optional engine from someone else.
I expect that in the end there will be about 5 different self driving systems on the road that are shared between different cars. Designing a system is complex and expensive on the one hand; and not a differentiator that customers will pay for on the other hand: so it won't be worth the cost to continue to develop a system if you have it when you can buy from someone else. (though each might customize the UI as the UI is a feature they can sell)
Not just government funds, but also car maker funds. I honestly don't understand why all the research in automated driving doesn't focus on making better versions of the driver assists we already have first, instead of shooting for full autonomy, which I honestly believe to be a pipe dream.
Of course many of the advances in researching autonomous driving will trickle down to safety systems for 'normal' cars, so that's a good thing. I just feel like everyone is approaching the problem from the wrong direction, wasting a lot of R&D effort that could have produced much better results much sooner if car companies would start from what we already have and incrementally improve it. You can blame car companies for being slow to adopt many things that could benefit all of us (such as electric drivetrains), but you can hardly deny car safety has already improved tremendously in a relatively short timespan. Whether they were forced by regulation or because they thought making safer cars would be more profitable doesn't really matter.
Here in the United States, such funds are meager and almost non-existent. That is not likely to ever change anytime soon.
Even in the areas where such funds are allocated, most people do not want to take public transit, for a variety of different reasons. If you have the ability to own a car, using it for transportation and other tasks tends to be preferable than other means. You have more flexibility in where you go, when you go, and how fast you'll get there. You are dependent on a system outside of your control, or other people to transport you.
It is much more comfortable to drive if the car itself keeps the same speed as the car in front of me and follows the road. I also feel a lot safer if my car would automatically brake if I'm distracted and a kid runs out in front of the car.
Everybody's jumping in because the prize is ridiculously huge. This justifies jumping in even if you deem your odds < 1 in 100
Consumers LOVE it. So even having some level of driving assistance will win you more customers.
If you thought about it for like 5 seconds, you just contradicted yourself here.
But your latter point is a good one. Part of what makes Musk effective is, even if he starts with just a half-baked kernel of an idea (usually borrowed from somewhere else), hyping into existence whole new industries (beyond just the companies he controls), which Musk can thus harvest for recruiting and better ideas, which makes those once-silly ideas actually work. That's kind of the opposite of being a dumbass.