6050 It stopped being a real machine when they b@asterized it with Cat engines.
A banner headline saying "pilotless aircraft flies into seawall at SFO" is no more likely to stop people flying than one that says "piloted aircraft flies into seawall at SFO"
Its not about stopping people flying, its about choice and market pressure. The fact is if it was going to happen, it would start as a single model. The first major crash attributable to the automation will have a devastating psychological effect on the punters. Basically they fly on the competition.
Basically the standard to do it may make it uneconomic.
As for autonomous trucks "barely working" then I think you would get an argument from Komatsu / Rio / CRA about that.
"... to date, 19 autonomous haul trucks (AHT's) have moved 100 million tonnes of rock in the Pilbara region of Western Australia"
As for Komatapillars and Rio, 100 million tonne isn't that much. Also don't forget Cat is doing the same thing at FMG and elsewhere. Don't believe all the
PR hype, there are significant problems ( the brake parts business is doing well out of it), but the potential savings are that great, it makes it worthwhile.
The point is, if autonomous systems, such as those in haulage in well structured system is having problems, any such system for the general public will be even worse. Throw in aviation and the falling out of the sky scenario, and it becomes even harder.