The gondolas most certainly come off the cables. That's been the case for decades.
Simple 2 choice automation should be doable. Choose to disembark, or go to DHS. Having 3 choices could make a very complex system quickly. The choice would have to be made before getting on, with separate lines, since the gondolas must be balanced on the systems. They could get more fancy and have direct access to the park with Early Access that day.
The issue with these systems is the loading speed. Again, a skier knows what they are doing, and get in position quickly. A family with grandma, and a 2 year old, not so much. And delays like that will quickly create backups in the line, as capacity is missed. If the DHS line has an issue, as people pour in to the station from AoA, the line gets long quickly. These issues may balance themselves out over time, but there will always be bad days for just one line, and once a 20 minute wait is created, it will never disappear.
As far as weather goes, let's say you are planning on going from Epcot to DHS. You walk all the way back to the gondola system. Two things could happen. One is that you get to the CBR station, and the system is shut down for weather. Second, you could get denied in Epcot for weather, and then have to walk all the way to the front to get a bus.
I'm sure they will attempt to empty the system before weather strikes, but as quickly a weather changes in Florida afternoons, that may mean the systems are shut down for hours, because they just don't know what is going to happen. Or a system malfunction happens for 10 minutes right before a weather shutdown. These things WILL happen. Regardless of how many risk assessment meetings happen, sooner or later, there will people stranded in these in a storm.
I guess I could blindly trust Disney, but I don't trust any company, after seeing how shortcuts are always taken sitting in those risk assessment sessions first hand.
That Yeti is still paralyzed, isn't it?
-J