(04-02-2018, 01:51 AM)HandsomeRob86 Wrote:

(04-01-2018, 10:06 AM)B2hibry Wrote: This is a bump in the road. Full autonomy is right around the corner. Like it or not, machines/computers can do tasks better and more efficient than humans. I wonder how many here realize just how much is entrusted to computers when they fly. Pilots are becoming more or less obsolete. With NextGen being implemented in the US and most newer aircraft being CATIII certified and CATIIIa, b, c in testing, full pilotless travel is less than 10 years away. In my opinion, with proper funding and cooperation across the infrastructure sectors, driverless cars are a much easier reality.

Until we have 'air traffic control' for roads with preplaned routes and about 1,000,000 times less cars with no obstacles to hit and no lanes to stay in, that analogy is stupendously bad. And they still need pilots for take off and landing even with all those advantages.

 Because you’re ignorant to how things work around you doesn’t mean the analogy is “stupendously bad”. By your response you didn’t even take the time to research terms you obviously didn’t comprehend. To help you out, airline crew sizes have been cut in half and so have their functional requirements. With NextGen, technology that is already in place will allow for taxi, takeoff, and landing by computer. Most of those tasks already occur without passengers being aware, leaving the pilot as a glorified radio operator. Common misconception is that most flights are VFR or looking out the window, which is just not the case. Back to cars...why can’t the DOT map out and place sensors on all roadways that act as waypoints for autonomous cars? Google already maps about 90% of all roads without Federal assistance and sensors can be placed during periodic road maintenance. As to your ‘air traffic control’ for roads, in a sense, it already exists in large metropolises.

It’s a new concept that is foreign and uncomfortable. Nothing new when it comes to innovation.

---