It's not just for press, they directly make money selling "FSD" add-on for ever-increasing thousands of dollars which currently does a couple of gimmicks, but, trust him: will soon be driving you around effortlessly (and other passengers for $$ when you're not using it)
This is exactly how I see autopilot as well. You can debate the ethics of this approach and people will forever (I certainly think its been misleading the public), but it so far seems to have worked for Tesla and has arguably forced industry in the BEV direction sooner than otherwise might have.
The bigger issue (for Tesla at least) is what happens to Tesla if they don't deliver the promised autonomy now in a reasonable timescale. Company itself still isn't all that independently secure, yet to turn an _annual_ profit etc. It feels to me like the recent surge in their value is driven by over-enthusiastic investors hopeful that one day all those Model 3s on the road become autonomous revenue generating entities (driverless cabs etc), which I still can't personally foresee happening anytime soon.
I own a Model 3 - the cabin alone, while nice enough, wouldn't stand up to more than a few months "shared" use IMO, ignoring all the other technical barriers. If these things really become shared, we are going to have to seriously rethink cabin design and materials. The kind of cabin a private buyer expects when spending 35k plus on a car today simply isn't going to last a bunch of drunk kids autonomously Ubering, even more so when you consider a long range Model 3 is approx $50k today.
Despite my own misgivings about how autopilot is conveyed to users, I still find it to be a really competent auto steer system on highways, which of course is a relatively simple use case for these systems to excel in. Ford's decision to brand their competing system in the forthcoming Mustang Mach E "CoPilot" feels far more appropriate. Ford aren't as dependent on hype for short term survival though.
Autopilot almost certainly gave them press and coverage that has helped sell cars and keep the company from collapsing.
If a future promise is what it took to drive the battery revolution, it was a reasonable cost.