The control issue has also be discussed on Is a computerized control enough for crosswind kites?. Almost all founded companies with significant investments develop crosswind AWES in yo-yo mode requiring sophisticated Information Technology (IT) control for all steps of operation: takeoff and landing, flight, reel-in and reel-out and transitional phases. So these control mean should be perfect, never failing because of crash penalty, unless passive safety is also developed.
In the other hand some other methods comprising rotary systems only need a part of the functions devolved to IT control, partially because the flight path is restrained by building.
For the record, a ground-based wind turbine could operate without IT control to a certain extent.
So the question can be: do you have to put all the eggs in one basket with the full IT control? Or do you need to distribute tasks and increase security redundancies?