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Today, no passenger wants the computer to control the plane. They are right. Today planes can take off and land using only software and radio signals, even whe
by xcombinator 17y ago
Today, no passenger wants the computer to control the plane. They are right.
Today planes can take off and land using only software and radio signals, even when the pilot can't, like no visibility when cloudy.
The problem is that computer understanding of the surroundings is NULL. Today there is no software that could understand(well) that there are birds(or small planes) on the way that are going to be eaten by your engines, and damage it.
The only technologies that work are active, like LIDAR, this is going to change, but first on vehicles with less degrees of freedom. Trains(1FD) before ships(2FD) before cars before planes.
- kwantam 17y agoToday there is no software that could understand(well) that there are birds(or small planes) on the way that are going to be eaten by your engines, and damage it. This is just fearmongering. Birds, sure, but airplane engines are designed to ingest small birds and for the most part can handle it reasonably well. Small planes still must have a transponder, and TCAS systems will identify and warn of ADS-B signals ("squawk"), even if the smaller plane has not been equipped with a TCAS transceiver.
- xcombinator 17y agoI'm talking about groups of birds here, they are very real. E.g, the pilot of a big plane saved the lives of the passengers when a big group(thousands) of flamingos take off from Doñana national park in Spain, he did what the book says not to do, put the plane in full-power and fly over them. There is a rule in engineering, never underestimate a 900km/hr projectile. And I have seen myself engines birds test that are mandatory on every turbine.