Leon
Most of your suggestions, though worthy, are not in anyway advancing aviation.
Sense and avoid has plenty of money being poured into it by all manner of people with big pockets, so no need to worry on that front.
You may very possibly be quite correct that airships never find a niche, but we all know that often projects succeed in producing new capabilities that were unexpected when the project started.
Even very large well funded projects often have to adjust expectations to meet reality once the real world meets the plan.
People keep mentioning that it would be quicker to transport loads by road or rail. This is undoubtedly true but misses the point. They are talking about transporting large loads to places where road and rail do not exist.
p.s. Have you seen the size of the Cruise liner market?
I wish the project well and don't mind at all that some money is thrown at it by some individuals and that the government has thrown some of my tax money at it. That pains me far less than some of the money they throw at other things.