Mers do not have to avoid flyswatters, true.
But they do the other things on your list.
3-D realtime nav, check
hazard avoidance, check
Even Pathfinder had these abilities, but NASA did not trust them well enough to use them much.
Wait till you see what they've got planned for MSL's brain.
And I would not classify the Death Valley race as a fiasco, at all. Just another step. I hope they don't let derision stop them from holding many more of them.