[Slartie]

It's the other way round, and you hint at it in your last sentence: the critics have had huge opportunity costs, while Elon had virtually no cost for his repeated overselling of Tesla's FSD capabilities. To the contrary, a good chunk of Tesla's market cap (and thus Elon's net worth) is clearly attributable to its large followership of retail investors hyped by Elons predictions and overselling (and I'd guess that even some professional investors are falling for the "Level 5 is right around that next corner" claims). Tesla is valued as a tech company, not as an automotive company, and that is in good part due to its alleged competence in the software tech realm, of which FSD is the most coveted piece.