> and it seems like the number of major car companies that could license their software is rapidly falling (Tesla and GM definitely have their own in-house comp

> and it seems like the number of major car companies that could license their software is rapidly falling (Tesla and GM definitely have their own in-house competitors, and other major car companies probably do as well). So how do they actually make money? They're billions of dollars into this project, and it just seems like they've missed their market window. I think this argument answers itself. If you’re the only company with this technology, you get to license it to everyone. If you are the tenth company, you will have a hard time finding licensees, so why bother spending the billions? If it really costs so much to develop, the equilibrium is for only a few entities to make that investment and sell it to everyone else.