Minimizing the chance of bricking the device with an automatic update requires at a minimum having two copies of the OS, so that the running copy isn't trying to modify itself and can remain as a fallback in case of a broken update. That's not too challenging these days now that most routers are using NAND flash, but for a long time it was common to use very small NOR flash modules with the absolute minimum capacity.
It would still be nice to have an official automatic update feature that is opt-in for stock systems.
They have the tools and infrastructure for assembling custom firmware images on-demand, and have recently added it to the default images, so they must feel like their infrastructure is ready for significantly increased demand.