Plus Tesla still does not report disengagements to the CA dmv, right? It seems so strange to me that their HQ is there and they do not report any testing there.
You're right they don't report disengagements, but they still maintain a autonomous test vehicle permit in the state, according to the DMV website. Very strange indeed. I think (2) is probably right.
For Reporting Year 2018, Tesla did not test any vehicles on public roads in California in autonomous mode or operate any autonomous vehicles, as defined by California law. As such, the Company did not experience any autonomous mode disengagements as part of the Autonomous Vehicle Tester Program in California.
https://electrek.co/2019/02/13/tesla-autonomous-mileage-cali...
Nothing about that changes due to semantics (your #1) or if they test elsewhere (your #2).