But then you are back to square one - the point of contention: Without the checks, it's a self-driving system, but it can't do so safely (yet), hence the checks

But then you are back to square one - the point of contention: Without the checks, it's a self-driving system, but it can't do so safely (yet), hence the checks. And as you said, there seems to be an intention to be full self-driving, without checks, at some point in the future.