At the very least you need something to keep the car from rolling away when it's parked.

well you could have really cheap drum brakes that probably would last the lifetime of the vehicle. Maybe not even hydraulic - electro-mechanical with a mechanical (E brake) fallback.

even better a motor brake already is a thing. Its kinda of like air brakes, requires current to disengage and looks liek a little clutch thats slapped on the shaft or housing.