This involvement was not free and not guaranteed because of their profit/power motives.
I think it is the time for the community to find innovative solutions for the community and to guarantee involvement by the community.
There are boards out there and x64/arm64 motherboards that can run AOSP.
Someone has to take the task of co-ordinating the efforts and maintain good documentation on how people can contribute, in a friendly to the community manner. I think it is possible.