Once upon a time when you got into a lift there was a man in it to operate it for you. Now there isn't. The technology to run driverless trains exists and is in service now. That's why the driver on the Victoria line is always reading the paper when the train comes in. He gets extra money because it is so boring.
UAVs are currently achieving crash rates of about 1 per 100 flights. (I saw one crash last February.) This is not good enough for taking grannies to Majorca but they will get better as experience is gained and I believe that the pilotless passenger jet will come. The interesting thing is that an operator is needed on the ground and one of the things that is becoming apparent is that this chap needs to have exactly the sort of airmanship skills that a pilot has. The non pilots just don't realise that theaircraft might hit the brown bits on the flat map.