As you can see from these pics (thanks again, Russ!) of the white and the red betas with their front doors open and the 'frameless' glass lowered, there's this little piece of 'orphaned' - as I call it - glass up front: Given the size of the front doors, I guess the frameless glass cannot go all the way to the end unlike in the case of the Mini: Instead, would it be better to make it solid in some form - either in body color (as was the case with the original white roller Model S proto where it served as the anchor for the mirrors) or in black (as seems to be the case with the current Camaro)?
That glass corner struck me as odd, too, when I saw it in person. I'm sure that something was needed because there was no place into which it could retract. The choice of glass, I suspect, was because the piece was so large that blacking it out just seemed odder than having a little glass triangle, which at least provides more light and visibility.
Toyota does the same thing. The Prius owner's manual indicates that you can break that window if you lock yourself out because it's the cheapest to replace. There's no way it could save lives because you can't see out the driver's side one and the passenger's side would only show something if it was right next to the car.
I agree. It's also better than other vehicle solutions where the A Pillar angles downward and thickens to replace where the glass would be.
Maybe this is Tesla's sneaky way of slowly reintroducing old ideas. Vent windows! And the lack of center console allows for a bench seat! Notice the 3rd row seats face backwards? Just like my dad's old station wagon.