As the role of the pilot changes and he becomes just a 'system monitor' rather than a 'bus driver' - is there any reason why he has to be onboard at all?
As divingduck said, the present day UAV's are already controlled from the ground - why not a normal aircraft?
Putting the crew/monitor on the ground would also have the added benefit on removing the flight deck and prevent any possibility of hi-jack - thereby making flying even safer.
As for the argument about pax not wanting to fly on these aircraft - if the economics of removing the flight crew mean that the ticket price is reduced - people will fly on it. If you make something cheap enough people will always buy it.
I seem to remember in the dim, distant past that many of the safety arguments and 'passengers will never fly it' were also advanced when we started long range, overwater ETOPS.