Up to now vertcoin hasn't proven to be anything more than a newer version of litecoin (which was also meant to be asic resistant or even proof). I am convinced vertcoin has a bright future, but now we can only speculate that a modified algorithm will be incorperated in vertcoin when the need arises. There's no integrated system to make such a change any easier than with ltc or btc..
Come to think of it; the adaptive-n schedule in fact suggests no change will be incorperated into vertcoin for the next decades!
Very timely you should mention automatic updates - we were discussing that just yesterday. The centralisation aspect is unappealing in a sense, however, ultimately people do choose to go with most hardforks when suggested by the maintainers of a coins client. A push-update system with appropriate user control (ie. notify rather than just make changes), with good control of the signing keys for updates is something we're considering, to be more prepared in the event a hardfork is needed. Like you said, we're not anticipating any ASIC threat based on the chosen schedule, but it never hurts to be prepared.