Ozy
TCAS is exactly an automated system with a human thrown in to add errors!
You are not supposed to do anything other than what the computer tells you.
It is extremely conservative and extremely simple. What possible difficulty could an autopilot have in following it?
The pilot does nothing but act as an autopilot on the computers instructions. badly.
Current airliners have no detect and avoid system beyond TCAS. Why are you so insistant that an automated system even have one? Airline pilots barely look out of the windows from one minute to the next, yet you demand something better from an automated system?
Luckily, because the makers know that they will be held to higher standard, they are being worked on and tested.
16024
If it ain't going to happen, why is so much money being spent on making just that happen.
BAe, Lockheed etc are not idiots and don't like throwing money away. Not their own money at least.