Pilot/operator error is a symptom, not a cause. The tasks usually automated first are those which humans aren’t good at,boring,tedious,often requiring high levels of precision and repetition. Dull and precise isn’t our thing, operating at peak efficiency, we are still prone to error, now add fatigue,stress,overload,illness and our error rate increases.
Machines are getting better at the abnormal, novel and unusual and will continue to improve.
We continue to repeat accidents in the same way.Collectively as Mark 1 humans, our performance is not and will not, noticeably improve.
Ultimately there will be fully automated pax aircraft, this is pretty much a given, whether a single pilot/machine minder remains In the short to medium turn,will be driven by safety, the market and
PR.
There will of course always remain a need for engineers. As the saying goes,’you can teach a monkey to ride a bike, but you can’t teach the monkey to design or fix it.’
Unfortunately the monkey is now ‘optional’.