Even in 2024, there’s still a lot of non-software (automotive) engineering involved in building a car – even an electric one.

Yeah but a car is mostly made of engines and bolts and wheels and stuff like that, you know.

No one can become a skilled ML/AI dev overnight. That will still take a year or two or more of working with it daily. If you transition to a new field you basically become a junior dev all over again for a while. Domain knowledge is a big part of being a good programmer.