The USSR were flying their Buran space shuttle in the 80s with full autonomous capabilities. It could launch into space, orbit, de-orbit, fly though re-entry a

The USSR were flying their Buran space shuttle in the 80s with full autonomous capabilities. It could launch into space, orbit, de-orbit, fly though re-entry and land at a runway without any external control (it was designed to complete it's mission under signal jamming conditions). It had full situational awareness and could autonomously make decisions like redirecting to a different runway or airport depending on weather and other factors. Maybe it's a bit of a stretch to say Buran was safe enough to fly passengers autonomously, but it was in the right direction. Compared to a self driving car where you have to detect respond to other cars and solid objects, the amount of processing power to maintain a dynamic aerodynamic flight model and fly under instrument conditions is actually pretty low.