Tesla has yet to demonstrate autonomous driving capability. A human ready to intervene in long tail scenarios (which is the hard part of the problem) does not constitute autonomous capability, no matter what the marketing material says.
I'm betting on Waymo, too, but Tesla has chutzpah in a way Google and GM do not. That might permit them to take more risks (and incur more costs on the public) earlier.
In the end, avoiding a monopoly is always good.
That's a prediction, one that I hope comes true. However, I have to be realistic and given the track record I am not too hopeful.