Of the names you call out for doing well though, it's worth pointing out that while Zoox may have so far avoided "wasting a lot of cash and resources on a gigan

Of the names you call out for doing well though, it's worth pointing out that while Zoox may have so far avoided "wasting a lot of cash and resources on a gigantic clusterfuck", it's apparently their plan to explore said clusterfuck over the long-term. Zoox's stated goal, once/assuming they get the self-driving software right, is to redesign and then build a completely new concept of what a car is, from the wheels up, and then own those cars, operating an Uber-style self-driving cab service. This is probably the most capital-intensive business model you could possibly come up with. [edit] Which isn't to say they'll fail! I know nothing about their progress on whatever internal research is going on. But in terms of including as many possible points of failure and guaranteeing that in the future you'll need an absolutely gargantuan funding round to succeed, this is tough to beat.