I think that most of the Java 8 features will be implemented in Jack, the new compiler they are working on (which is likely why the current toolchain has not seen much improvements). Most of them shouldn't need bytecode level changes.
That said Kotlin looks awesome and I'll definitely be considering it for my next Android project.
https://android-review.googlesource.com/#/c/150214/
Looks like there is someone at Google working on lambda support.