Comments on: A step towards total autopilot

By: niko

niko — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 20:52:24 +0000

As a professional airline pilot I can tell that for sure (that is, 99.9% sure) there will be no such a thing as a pilotless passenger transport plane at least for the next 15-20 years. Soooo many airlines flying still with computers from the 80′s and early 90′s! Once we have the approved tech for flying pax with no pilots, it will take some 20 years or even more till the industry absorbs and implements it in everyday ops… still, drones are already very cool for so many other things!

By: Chrispium

Chrispium — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 22:34:35 +0000

I think Brigitte Eva Gisela Schittenhelm in Metropolis can lay claim to that title.

By: melajara

melajara — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:49:42 +0000

Reminds me of this exceptional TED video http://www.ted.com/talks/vijay_kumar_robots_that_fly_and_cooperate.html

Granted, here we are addressing the segment neglected by Dr Kumar: conventional and not so agile aircrafts but clearly there is inspiration to be gained from Dr Kumar’s work, especially when the aircrafts have to fly in swarming formations (so implicitly managing collision avoidance).

By: Hoss

Hoss — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:37:56 +0000

Absolutely! Yul Brenner was the original Terminator.

By: Gorden Russell

Gorden Russell — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:36:40 +0000

Hoss, I’ll bet you remember that movie, “Westworld.”

By: Hoss

Hoss — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:22:21 +0000

“Thank you for flying Discount Airlines. My name is Autopilot 2015. I am the latest autopilot program. I don’t belong to a union, don’t drink alcohol, and never require sleep. I assure you that everything is perfectly safe…perfectly safe…perfectly safe…”