Boeing to usher in pilotless jets thanks to AI
Ahead of the Paris Air Show, commercial jet maker Boeing said that pilotless jetliners were a possibility in the not so far future. Drones are already making their presence felt in various fields. 2016 being one of the safest years for the aviation industry may also be giving confidence. The manufacturer may be looking at niche markets hitherto not well served which may benefit from point to point services enabled by artificial intelligence (AI).
Pilotless Flying. Nothing Artificial About IT
Musk is not Elon in leveraging artificial intelligence. If Tesla’s Khan can, Boeing being Boeing surely can. The only caveat is that even driverless cars have had their trials and tribulations before becoming relatively mainstream. Even now, we see some accidents/ death due to the gaps in the software (artificial intelligence). That is understandable because the AI is built on the concept of improving with more inputs/ feedback over repeated uses. Mistakes and subsequent mistake proofing are intrinsic to the development of a robust AI asset/ ecosystem.
Pilotless Benefits: Of the Cat’s Whiskers, catnaps and Whiskeys
A pilot’s job is no doubt a very responsible one and stressful to boot. They may hence be forgiven for their ‘arrogance’. On its part, AI seems a natural evolution to Information Technology, nothing artificial about it. But till such time that this pilotless technology becomes mainstream, pilots can continue to be the cat’s whiskers. The positive takeaway for the average flyer is that he or she need not worry much about cat naps being taken in the cock-pit or whiskeys being downed.
Related Reading
