You joke, but after reading some texts from Musk and his social circle [1], I find it plausible that that is how some of these business decisions get made.
[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/09/elon-...
[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/09/elon-...
He gets criticized for promising them, even selling them like in the case of vehicle autonomy, when there is no realistic timeline for delivery.
I mean, at least when Microsoft pitched vaporware on stage they didn't then take the money in advance.