disagree on the pedaling backwards for e-bikes. Backwards braking is a kiddie bike thing, most experienced riders are used to the brake set up on the handlebars and would much prefer that.
E-bikes are still road bikes, and the last thing you would want is the fundamental behavior of an e-bike to be drastically different from a normal road bike. Unexpected braking is just as dangerous as going fast.
Honestly, from this point alone it makes me think the author isn't very experienced with the mechanics of higher end road bicycles. This behavior is normal and expected for kids and big box store bikes, but on a road bike at speed, this would not be considered normal operation.
(To be clear, I don't see why we actually need to pedal backwards. Assuming we're otherwise comfortable with a bike-by-wire system as the author advocates, a a brake-by-wire lever should be super cheap and has none of the maintenance complexity of physical brakes.)