Exactly how much weight/space is being saved here?
In an EV with a heavy battery, my guess is not a very significant amount. This looks like an example of ignoring the forest to focus on a tree.
It costs $700 to change a dead battery on some Mercedes cars because the onboard computer has to be reset using special electronic tools.
This "screw the customer" approach is the road to self destruction. Just ask Volkswagen.
I can't find a citation, but I recall seeing an estimate that the German automaker cartel increased prices on the order of $10k per vehicle. I had also read that there is a similar cartel among the automotive suppliers, none of whom seem capable of making a windshield wiper set that isn't hundreds of dollars, or a vehicle lighting below multiple thousands of dollars.
“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” -- Adam Smith
https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-cartel-coll...
Talking to the onboard computer is free beyond the initial equipment and it isn't even locked or anything, tools that can do this can be had for cheap, connect to your phone via bluetooth etc.
You can buy dongles and do it yourself, but not everyone is willing to mess with coding their own vehicle.
Which only goes to prove that it didn't need to be and should never have been "a thing".
Not my world, but I don't get it - with throttle by wire you can do fun dynamic/nonlinear response, cut throttle when you don't have traction etc. With this thing, all the clever things are already done by the ABS/ESC unit, so removing the physical connection really only frees up like like 50 cm of a hydraulic piping.
Would love to hear an automotive engineer's take on this to be honest.