I've been hearing about single pilot planes being "just around the corner" since I was hired here over 30 years ago.

They would first have to design and build a pilotless plane that could fit into the existing ATC infrastructure. That's probably a decade or more away. Right now Boeing and Airbus are selling almost every plane they make so there's not a lot of incentive to spend money on something like this.

Also the cost of the plane would likely far outweight the operating costs of an existing design build and the cost of pilots. Keep in mind that any new pilotless plane has a whole new set of costs.

If the FAA isn't certifying the MAX 7/10 for some minor stuff, they aren't just going to run out and certify a plane without pilots without years of testing, which most manufacturers won't want to do. As long as Boeing keeps building 2 pilot planes, we will need 2 pilots to fly them.