You deserve more upvotes than you're getting, because your question is a fair one, and knowledge that may be obvious to some is going to be totally new to other

You deserve more upvotes than you're getting, because your question is a fair one, and knowledge that may be obvious to some is going to be totally new to others. Some people would do well to remember that new people are constantly being born, and each person must learn everything from the start. I'm going to copy and paste a few answers from this 6 year old Reddit thread: https://old.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5xqkxc/eli5_why_has_air_traffic_control_not_been/ https://old.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5xqkxc/e... > Air traffic controllers think on the fly more than you would assume. They look at their radar scopes and plan each target to work with others by working their speed, altitude, and path. Computers could probably work out these, but then how would they relay that information to pilots? > Another thing to think about is the vast number of VFR aircraft who are not on a flight plan going A to B. ATC is able to communicate with them, learn their intentions "we saw something neat and would like to orbit here for 5 minutes", and help them see and avoid other aircraft. > The fact that they are humans who you can talk to is tremendously helpful in emergencies as well. If I'm fighting a sick airplane I might not have the time or focus to find the nearest suitable airport, get weather information and important notices, and plan a descent. A controller watching over me sure can though. Humans are flexible in a way computers can't be yet. ----- > All aviation-related technology is tightly regulated and goes through an immense amount of testing and consideration before use. > All of the obstacles we have around self-driving cars-- "whose fault is it if it crashes", "how do we know it's safe enough before letting it on the road", "do you still need a licensed driver", etc-- are 10x more problematic in the sky. It isn't necessarily harder to automate, but is harder to declare "officially safe enough". It's not enough for an automated ATC to be somewhat good or decent. There is little margin for error when the consequences of such an error could be the death of hundreds of people and the loss of a multimillion dollar plane. ATC in real life is much more difficult than it appears to casual observers.