That remains to be seen. Like it or not, he is at least trying
something while most people sit around either complaining, doing nothing, or actively stifling progress that affects their antiquated business model
Wasn't Musk's idea, US gov't didn't allow private space vehicles before. And SpaceX is not the only player in that game
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_private_spaceflight_companies
The number of players in the game is irrelevant, it doesn't detract from SpaceX's accomplishments.
Not if the mistakes are easily avoidable and frankly stupid.
Which is easy to say from the sidelines.
That is plain idiotic and a complete non-starter, forget the cost and technical challenge of running massive vacuum chamber, you are in a 15ton bullet inches away from the wall, anything that causes that capsule to move even a little bit will end with human ground meat.
The same was said about flight, space travel, the automobile, bullet trains, supersonic speeds, etc.
EVs were being developed before Tesla (wayyyyy before Tesla) and Toyota has had their HFC cars running around before anyone heard/cared about the Model S.
Of course they were, some of the earliest cars were electric. Tesla has either generated or demonstrated sufficient interest to spur a surge in development of EVs, which may be the biggest contribution of the company to the planet.
Mostly driven by electronics companies, EV manufacturers took things that Apple, Samsung, Panasonic, et all came up with, not the other way around.
And Tesla saw those developments as a way to make a practical daily EV for a cost that was competitive with the ICE market. Just because they didn't start at the beginning doesn't mean they haven't contributed. Everyone stands on the shoulders of the giants who came before them.
Again completely unrelated to Tesla, this has been the case before Tesla and will be after Tesla, solar is a very attractive idea since it's essentially free energy.
But Tesla is the one investing in the continued development and making it attractive. Just because solar cells existed and batteries existed doesn't take away from the solar shingles or the packaging of all the parts together into something that is easily marketable and easily installed on residences. If you wanted a solar battery system with net metering before, you would have had to source everything yourself and build it yourself - at least in the vast majority of the country. Tesla has made it so you can order the system you want out of a catalog and have it installed in a matter of weeks. It takes longer to get the power company to give the approval to turn the system on than it does to install it.
I will give you that he changed perception on EVs, that's about it really. His not ambitious, his cocky and arrogant, there is a difference.
Being cocky and arrogant often goes hand in hand with ambition.
Musk is futurist, he looks at what could be rather than what is. That vision is his greatest strength (ok, that an money). He will, by his own nature overreach and fail; but when he succeeds, he will succeed in doing something that few thought possible. You don't do something groundbreaking without the arrogance to think that you can; to think that you can do something that others can't or won't do. It goes with the territory. If Musk manages to be the catalyst that means I don't have to check the air quality along with the weather when I walk out the door, then I wish him all the best. He is already changing perceptions about EVs and renewable energy. He is trying to change perceptions about mass transit, rapid transit, congestion, and even interplanetary travel.
Someday there will be someone trying to do something fantastic and there will be people on the internet saying he is cocky, arrogant, doomed to fail, and basing his ideas on Musk. Everyone stands on the shoulders of giants, and one day, they will have someone stand on their shoulders to take the next step.