The goal is to have a cross-platform low level API that can be easily tested for compliance/conformance, right?

Also one that exposes graphics card mechanics so that higher-level tools can use them more intelligently for optimization purposes.

A good analogy is the RISC transition - implementations were made easier and faster, but as a tradeoff assembly was made much more difficult to program in. The idea being that only a small group of tool-makers with specialized knowledge of the underlying mechanics (in that case compiler developers, in this case engine developers) would ever have to deal with them.