A bit uninformed here.... For cloud-based services (such as a MyQ Garage Door Opener or Ecobee Thermostat), when you use their Homekit integration (not homebridge) do you actually achieve local control over the devices so that if the cloud or internet fails you still would be able to use Homekit within the house? I could easily test by unplugging the internet, but assumed several here would have the answer!
Homekit has local components but to use an iDevice (iPhone/iPad) for automation uses iCloud. Therefore it's cloud based, especially if it's Siri.
Is this unique to using an iPad for automations? I found the automations via my Apple TV 4 continued to run when I lost internet for a day and a half recently. You can also continue to control HomeKit devices (this includes HE devices enabled via Homebridge) from the Home app when there is no internet.
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Wish there was a simple answer 
As you're aware, the 'applehub' thingie.. be it HomePod, ATV or iPad... to HomeKit devices including Homebridge are all local.
Therefore the 'choke point' becomes getting commands into the 'apphehub'. Clearly Siri is going to need Internet to process the voice into text into commands, and return those to the 'applehub.'
Automations however are already local to the 'applehub'. They can just be triggered and work. But Presence for example, works when your iPhone is well outside of your WiFi range, so again, that's cloud based. The Home App, has rooms and buttons for devices in those rooms. It uses BlueTooth and Wifi to communicate directly, if possible, 'applehub' if not.
No Wifi Internet would cripple your iPhone and Siri, but obviously you can use LTE (or equiv) to get internet to your phone, and then your phone can (often?) communicate directly to those Homekit devices that would work.
Therefore, you probably CAN work unusually well with no WiFi internet BUT you're still needing Internet, via the iPhone/ cellular iPad.
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Thanks for the informative responses! Just to clarify one more point: So, for what appear to be cloud based services such as a MyQ garage door and Ecobee thermostat, they become "local" when paired to an "applehub" (for example an iPAD serving that function) and you use the apple home app on that same iPad to activate the device???
[I actually have two garage door controllers handling the same door, one is truly local and connected to HE, the other is MyQ that has homekit integration. I'm thinking of replacing my Ecobee thermostat with a Pearl or Zen.]
I'm still gonna lean on the word 'CAN'
It would depend on the Ecobee plug-in and the MyQ plug-in.
I would guess there's no attempt to be cloudless and that it sends the traffic through the cloud for some element... maybe authentication, for example. Seems like everyone but we few want some cloud tie-in. 
I have the MyQ, and it is not local. The commands go up to MyQ's servers and then are sent down to the garage opener/controller. I also have the ecobee, but I'm not sure if its HomeKit integration does anything locally. My guess would be no, just knowing how much data they are storing on their servers.
