Musk receives a lot of flak because he presents extremely hard problems as easy, and sells the idea that only he can solve them. But this is clearly not true, just look at all the progress that is happening in automated driving and EV technology outside of Tesla, with Waymo, Cruise, and other companies already offering limited driverless rides, and with the Rivian and Ford 150 Lightning beating the cybertruck to market by years.

Real progress takes real work, not promises and marketing fluff. If humanity makes it to Mars it will likely be without his help.