Considering the SIM can barely handle a re-position without half the systems going offline, I'm going to say....no.

 

For a $39 ticket to Orlando, people would be lining up.

 

I’ve just thought of a great Idea. Let’s have a low cost operation within the mainline, with crappy work rules, and a really stupid name, hmmmm, I know we’ll call it TED (United without U aNd I). 😳

 

Yes, because money is always the bottom line.

 

Most common travelers have no clue what a high speed turn off is or that SNA, LGA, DCA have short runways.

 

Not any time soon (sorry, paywall)...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/self-dr...d=hp_lead_pos9

Also anybody who touts the alleged safety of Tesla on autopilot is talking total garbage...

The Tesla is statistically pretty safe, but that's due to a SYSTEM of automation COMBINED with human supervision. Sound familiar? It should. Neither the tesla "autopilot" nor the human gets credit for the good numbers, it's a combination of the two (automation has better focus/alertness, human can respond to the unexpected which of course they didn't program the AI for).

Those stats don't hold up very well when the "driver" is napping in the back seat, surfing the net, drinking beer, etc. The system needs both components to be better than either.

Also while humans may screw up regularly they almost invariably try to mitigate the damage... they very rarely drive straight into a solid object at full speed with the pedal down and no swerving/braking. That's autopilot's usual fail mode, and it tends to be fatal.

If society really wants this, the road infrastructure needs to modified to be conducive to automation and obviously perfectly consistent. Probably need to embed steel markers in the road for mag sensors on the vehicle... optical sensors are too problematic in weather, unusual atmospheric conditions, a truck spills paint on the road, etc. The freeways could probably be practically modified (over a ver long time frame), but the rest of the non-highway infrastructure would be monumentally costly, maybe pick and chose some main arteries.

Personally I've resisted the temptation to buy a Tesla because it might be too easy to rely too much on the automation when I commute work. Especially early or late.

 

Hopefully ALPA can get some carbon emissions reduction involved to delay any new designs.

If there are billions available to build safe planes with no pilots, then there should be billions available to build planes with no carbon cost.

It would be compounding too because getting rid of pilots lowers fares increasing demand and creating more carbon pollution. ALPA can probably sell that.

 

Getting rid of pilots doesn’t lower fares.

 

Consider what it currently takes just to do a full autoland with rollout. Two or three autopilots. Increased checks and certifications on the MX side. Increased training on the crew side. Enhanced tolerances on the ground-based navaids. Critical areas cleared. Notifying the controllers who are also monitoring closely. Fully available/usable runway. I'm sure I'm missing a bunch more factors. And yet, crews have to intervene regularly (and immediately) to prevent undesired states/outcomes. To make these factors a minimum requirement for every landing at every airport seems a reach to me at this point.

 

It's fun when we stand up to the Big Tech oligarchs who wish to run our lives.