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I would not be surprised to see self-flying planes take off (pun intended) before self-driving cars.

kbenson 6y ago
It's a much easier problem, which is why planes have been mostly automated for a while now. The equivalent for cars would be if we only allowed them on almost entirely empty freeways and highways, and on designated, fairly uniform and well marked parking lots directly off those freeways. Self driving cars can already do all that fairly well. It's all the fiddly bits that planes don't have to deal with (pedestrians, city roads, weird/bad roads and signage, lots of other cars, etc) that make self driving cars hard.
- mmcconnell1618 6y ago
  Don't forget planes all file flight plans ahead of time so not only is there more space, but it is relatively easy to check for potential conflicts before flights leave the ground.
  - asdfadsfgfdda 6y ago
    Flight plans are filed in advance, but a flight plan is just a plan. It's an impossible task to predict where an airplane will fly in advance, there are so many variables involved. Just some of the many reasons a flight will vary from flight plan: -Avoiding convective build up (thunderstorm) -Avoiding turbulence for passenger comfort (changing altitude) -Unexpectedly high headwinds (changing altitude) -A cold front causes winds to shift, so the runways in use change -Low clouds limits arrival/departure rate, so holding is needed -Snow removal from runways/taxiways
carabiner 6y ago
We have these with Predator drones etc. These were mature at the time when the DARPA Grand Challenge had robot cars crashing in the desert.
- axlee 6y ago
  Predator drones aren't exactly self-flying though, they are remotely piloted.
  - mrguyorama 6y ago
    They self fly like the more expensive quadcopters do. You can set GPS waypoints and they will guide themselves through the route. Then you can click a button and they will orbit a defined point in the sky. The operators are usually just working the sensor pod because that's the actual hard and important work

It's a much easier problem, which is why planes have been mostly automated for a while now. The equivalent for cars would be if we only allowed them on almost entirely empty freeways and highways, and on designated, fairly uniform and well marked parking lots directly off those freeways. Self driving cars can already do all that fairly well. It's all the fiddly bits that planes don't have to deal with (pedestrians, city roads, weird/bad roads and signage, lots of other cars, etc) that make self driving cars hard.

mmcconnell1618 6y ago
Don't forget planes all file flight plans ahead of time so not only is there more space, but it is relatively easy to check for potential conflicts before flights leave the ground.
- asdfadsfgfdda 6y ago
  Flight plans are filed in advance, but a flight plan is just a plan. It's an impossible task to predict where an airplane will fly in advance, there are so many variables involved. Just some of the many reasons a flight will vary from flight plan: -Avoiding convective build up (thunderstorm) -Avoiding turbulence for passenger comfort (changing altitude) -Unexpectedly high headwinds (changing altitude) -A cold front causes winds to shift, so the runways in use change -Low clouds limits arrival/departure rate, so holding is needed -Snow removal from runways/taxiways

carabiner 6y ago

We have these with Predator drones etc. These were mature at the time when the DARPA Grand Challenge had robot cars crashing in the desert.

axlee 6y ago
Predator drones aren't exactly self-flying though, they are remotely piloted.
- mrguyorama 6y ago
  They self fly like the more expensive quadcopters do. You can set GPS waypoints and they will guide themselves through the route. Then you can click a button and they will orbit a defined point in the sky. The operators are usually just working the sensor pod because that's the actual hard and important work