Agreed. I'd also add that other car manufacturers have made tradeoffs on safety issues for decades.

So I wonder if it's more about Telsa capitalizing on the hype of self driving cars (with the expensive self-driving add-on) in the short term and less about him misunderstanding the magnitude of difficulty.

Telsa is using the proceeds from that add-on to make them seem more profitable and fund the actual development. It's smart in some aspects, but very risky to consumers and Telsa.