Originally Posted by
cardiomd
Exactly. The technology is there and the factors that determine when we have one-pilot then pilotless planes are driven by 1) economics and 2) social acceptance including regulation/legislation/etc.
Elevators used to have operators, and so did those intra-airport shuttles that are now autonomous (except in KIAD).
No, the point is that the technology is NOT there. We can do it only when it is very easy to define all of the aspects of the problem. Elevators and trains are very, very limited as to the types of scenarios that can lead to problems. Those scenarios are well known and can be programmed, including just "stopping" if there events that are outside of those well defined boundaries.