The automakers less so. They don't particularly care what powers the cars people buy, so long as people buy them. They were in the process of pivoting to electric platforms, but, being as terminally stupid as they are, a lot of that has been put on hold while they try to figure out why their current $100,000 offerings aren't selling by the millions.
Automakers care about how much R&D they have to invest and the impact on the quarterly profits. ICEs are dirt cheap in that regard, and it took the federal government bribing them to do so.
Putting aside politics, macroeconomics and questions about build quality, one unavoidable answer is...because they want to. The US should get more ambitious.
Because they give zero shits about passenger safety, pedestrian safety, worker rights, customer rights, are owned by the government, and steal all their tech instead of putting in the work themselves?
I thought you were talking about GM for a second. Tell us more about how US truck/SUVs are so great for pedestrian safety, the child labor at the Hyundai plant in the south, the relentless spyware and horrible data privacy practices, the US auto bailouts, and their "innovation". I have no love for Chinese EVs, but the US domestic market has plenty of problems on their own.
You do realize American have sensors that will you if theres a kid there, right? Just because some European urbanite who has never driven a car thinks hoods are too tall doesnt mean he knows what hes talking about.