@texases, thank you for the correction regarding ownership.
I think the delay is just a normal consequence of this type of mechanism. Whether you shift a manual transmission or it shifts itself, you have to disengage the clutch, shift, and reengage the clutch. That takes a moment. This looks to me like a hardware issue more than a software issue. Nonetheless, it doesn’t seem to be slowing sales of the Smart Coupe. I frequently see them on the interstate.
In any case, I think the OP is on to something, even if he’s a little late to the game. This is just the kind of thing that appeals to me, replacing something complicated and expensive to fix with a simpler, less expensive, and more reliable mechanism.