It's a great system, but it is very far from replacing pilots in any useful way. As you said it's mostly a nice integration of the existing autopilot functions.

It's a great system, but it is very far from replacing pilots in any useful way. As you said it's mostly a nice integration of the existing autopilot functions. Real world flying with the 10^7 or 10^9 kind of scale for safety isn't in need for a better autopilot. That would be like making a more precise cruise control while you want a self driving car. What it needs is better decision making and problem solving skills. And those are very much lacking from these current systems. I have an instructor rating. We can teach an average human in 5 to 10 hours how to control a plane. Then we spend an additional 40 to 60 hours on how to make the right decisions, solve problems, deal with weather, traffic etc. And humans are really good at that. What is needed if you want autonomous flight is really good AI decision making, not aircraft control.