The company is aspiring to test the new technology next year. Jetliners are already taking off, landing, and cruising with the aid of computers. Flight management systems also help detect the best flight route after the flight plan is fed in by the pilot.
So, what’s really there to be scared about? Pilots dropping out is becoming a reality and the pilotless planes will only aid the cause of meeting that shortage.
Boeing’s Vice-President, Mike Sinnett said they will start testing the technology in a cockpit simulator over the summer next year, before flying a plane with “some artificial intelligence that makes decisions that pilots would make.”
Of course, pilotless planes would require to successfully pass safety standards and even though Boeing has no idea how that will happen, the company will work on developing algorithms to that end.