That makes it sound like Waymo is copying Tesla when in fact Waymo has been in the works before Tesla even considered self driving.

Another way to look at it is that they're avoiding some of the expensive parts of making products that use AI, while leaning into their strengths. No Tesla required within the explanation.

Seems smart. There are dozens of companies that make low-margin cars. There's only one company that has managed to make a working autonomous software driver.

Bizarre oversimplification.

For both manipulation and autonomous driving, google has invested in approaches with custom hardware, and off-the-shelf hardware, and a blend (which is what waymo is).