The upside to solving driverless is so huge that companies feel they can't miss out on it. It's still very early in the game. Uber is a great example, everyone assumed with all their VC money that they were serious contenders to Waymo...then the crash happened and we get a (literal) glimpse under the hood and realize things aint so pretty. These operations are opaque by necessity and from an investor perspective, it's not a guarantee that Waymo won't have their own setback which becomes Uber's saving grace (however unlikely that seems at the moment).