Originally Posted by
wiggy
Dare I ask - are you claiming/asserting that the technology to allow autonomous passenger ops working to the required level of safety expected by the traveling public and regulators is here right now? Today?
That's a very disingenuous question wiggy, since as you are well aware there is no such regulatory standard for autonomous aircraft.
How can you prove a level of safety except with hindsight?
The US navy currently has an autonomous aircraft which all by itself does carrier launches and landings and in-flight refuelling amongst other things.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_X-47B
It currently has 100% safety record.....
Now, this was never designed to be passenger carrying. If it was, I would guess they would add an extra engine and probably just as many redundant systems as an airliner.
The point is, that the tech is there, and redundancy can be added in as required.