Yes, you have 5 V. THen you have outomotive 12 V. But now you would have also automotive 48 V. USB-PD is one standard and can deal with different level of power requirements, from headsets up to laptops. And then you can use for other things as well, in a way that can be more practical than dealing with 110-220 V AC.
Is it a monstruosity? I don't know honestly. I trust hackaday in that sense, and they usually praise it, without any hidden reason, I think.
Also, if you read the article, you can see that it is also a continuation of one from a few years back, before USB_PD was widespread. It touches also the points that you wrote. Give it a read: