Originally Posted by
tdracer
Now, I'm not suggesting we're to the point where we can design the aircraft so we don't need pilots - that's still decades away. But when pilots become completely overwhelmed and demonstrate the inability to even remember to pull the throttles back so they don't overspeed when something goes wrong, it moves us one more step in that direction.
Interesting, I think that there are challenges remaining, but would expect to see fully autonomous aircraft as a more realistic proposition than genuinely fully autonomous cars. The technology will be there within a decade (about the same time as I will never have to fly again I hope).
However, Do I have the confidence in the implementation quality and regulatory enforcement which makes that technology actually safe ? . . . No chance.
There is a 'race to the bottom' in the software business which largely makes it fundamentally incompatible with the creation of high end safety critical solutions.
The more complex and critical those systems are the more incompatible that approach becomes. I see it regularly in many industries and it is both concerning and somewhat eye opening when you see what is really going on under the skin, as may be becoming apparent with this aircraft.