derjodel
Autonomous flight over populated areas, or with a large number of pax is a loooooooong way off I wager. The reliability doesn't exist at present to make it possible. The car case has 2-D dynamics with predictable interactions. The aircraft has 3-D dynamics and has interactions with weather, traffic, technical faults that all need to operate perfectly. As this sort of flight indicates, there is a technical issue that triggers the outcome, and the system has to get it right, every time, without external input. Humans remain the most effective safety device for making decisions under conditions of uncertainty at this time. I don't think removing the human from the loop is the solution, I do think that enhancement in SA training is 1/2 a century overdue, and would be cost-effective and "impactful". At least bringing in UA training that are not canned exercises in training sessions would be illuminating and might change the views of some observers to the "only happens to them, not me" brigade.