Originally Posted by
Pickuptruck
Spoken like a flight engineer. The first tests of auto take off at Airbus were in 2020, it’s downhill from here. Every facet of transportation is getting automated. Line haul automated trucks are less than a decade away. The cost savings of halving your pilot numbers are huge. The whole idea that airlines will want to hold onto pilots is much like the idea they wanted to hold onto flight engineers.
Ain’t going to happen, watch the current fight in the trucking industry if you want to know how this will all play out.
Apologies for thread drift.
The truck thing exists, but authorities won't let it happen without bodies in the cab. Scania has a system were up to 10 truck and trailer units are connected via some network. Truck one drives and the others follow, literally a few meters apart. Travelling in a convoy of 10 saves 10% fuel per truck, so 10 trucks and one practically goes for free. They are allowed to operate the system on German Autobahns, but only at night.