It's a catch 22 there, they can't devote time to a feature that isn't used, unless it happens to be a small group's pet project. It was however shipped in a state that makes using it boring for everyone who isn't actively doing something in the ship. We ended up having a feature with plenty of room for potential play space, but shipped in such a way that you couldn't really call it a complete feature, at which point it was dropped by the players. The expectation is that we use it more if we want a better implementation, but outside of letting the second seat in your Asp Exlporer be someone else's space screensaver, I don't see that happening.
I would love it if the second seat got some neat functionality besides giving a pip and controlling turreted weapons. I would love it if the second seat in my Asp gave my co-pilot a telescope of sorts, allowing them to highlight areas of interest while in system and making navigation waypoints based on those points of interest. Maybe a trade focused co-pilot can get data from in system stations about commodity pricing and availability.
Now that's a good idea. Basically you would be working as a team and, if nothing else, getting the job done faster.