Well, I'm a sort-of EE who thinks good engineering is building for a nickel what any schmuck can build for a dollar. So I pretty well understand the corners that automotive OE's cut -- but you're right, don't put me to work for NASA.
On the other hand, if I'd been at Boeing, I could have told them the info was already there on the bus to know if the MCAS was f'ing up. Radar and baro for both airspeed and altitude. If she's accelerating and moving down and not up, she ain't stalling. Dumb as a post, and the right software would have cost them a nickel, not a dollar.