> But it means that either the shift lever has to be stateless, or the shift lever has to be movable by the system Wouldn't it work to have the shift lever be

> But it means that either the shift lever has to be stateless, or the shift lever has to be movable by the system Wouldn't it work to have the shift lever be stateful but overridable by the system? When you turn off the car have the system put it in "Park" regardless of the position of the shift lever. Do not allow the car to be started unless the shift lever is first moved to "Park". If you turned off the car with the shift lever in some other position you will have to move it to "Park" to enable starting. Similar for opening the driver's door when the car is not in "Park". Require moving the shift lever to "Park" then to some other setting in order to disengage the auto-Park and resume driving. I think most people would have no trouble dealing with this because most automatic transmission cars in the US already restrict starting to certain settings, typically "Park" and "Neutral".