The confusion here is between throttle-by-wire (which, as you point out, is now ubiquitous) and steer-by-wire, which Teslas still aren't. There was some hope that the newest yoke-equipped Model S would be, but my understanding is that it's still a direct mechanical link, i.e. wheels still turn if you move the steering wheel when the car is off. The driver-assist functions use motors to move the steering linkage.
Wouldn't steer-by-wire that reduce steering feedback even more? Compared to my old (somewhat unreliable) Jetta with hydraulic power steering, every electric steering-assist car I've driven has terrible steering feel, like I'm driving an RC car. I feel so disconnected from the road, as if I'm merely aiming the car rather than actually driving it.
Right; the whole conversation re: "what is drive by wire anyways?" is a massive red herring. That's really my bad. The operative question is just "what happens if the primary chip fails?"
If the answer is "nothing bad, yet, but maybe something bad when we ship FSD" then Tesla's approach here seems reasonable (modulo not informing customers, which will probably catch them a fine in at least some of these jurisdictions, but in my book is more like a "mild breach of commercial contract" issue than a "fundamental consumer rights" issue).
If the answer is "something bad" then this is a big deal and could be bad news for Tesla.
