Yes, it is underfunded for sure. I have been underwhelmed by what academia has managed to produce, funding aside. It is a solvable problem but you have to give the money to the people that can solve it in an operational context, which rarely seems to happen.

It is a genuinely fun project for someone with sufficiently sophisticated skill but I suspect there is relatively little money in it, which colors the opportunity and outcomes.

The absence of clear commercial opportunity gives the domain a weird dynamic.