[wnut]

I would guess you could build a lot of traction control and other features in a drive by wire system under the guise of complying with the maximum fuel flow and fuel economy regulations.
Pretty sure the accelerators would be a torque mapped control too, so the percentage depression of the pedal is the percentage torque required from the engine, and you would further map this for each gear. That would immediately be crude traction control. You could also control the rate the engine spools up to "protect it from damage", again traction control.