All of the new airliners are all digital & fly by wire. Pilot input is fed into computers and the computers controls all the flight surfaces, engines & etc. I believe almost all can flight themselves. I remember 20+ years ago some had the capability to land themselves with no stick input. I've been out of the business over 20 years so I don't really get updated anymore. As for the small autonomous aircraft I don't think there's a snowballs chance in hell that the FAA will allow them in or near any of the major airport or airspace. Note that Air Force drones have be autonomously flying for years so it's nothing new. Many of the control by wire stuff is finding it way into cars. I know my 2003 TL had that type system for the accelerator. All & all once the software is correct the machine will do whatever its programmed to do. Hence thats why we can send probes to other planets & comets. Where I see the issue is, is placing them in a chaotic environment & expecting successful results. When I was looking at the Tesla at car required attention from the driver periodically. Some roads without lines and markings also required driver assistance. After a couple ran into a stopped truck & barricade that made me rethink some of my assumptions .
Absolutely I said that there will always be a pilot be in the cockpit. It's one of the first things that I said when making the analogy to the autonomous cars. The point that I was trying to make that almost everything in the new Airliners is all digital hence you're controlling computers who it in turn controls the aircraft. So there is no getting around putting your faith in a computers unless your in a small Cessna. Should that system and redundancies go down so does the airplane. Those all digital system allows for the additional controls which was not widely available years ago by integrating with all the other systems GPS, Weather, landing & collision avoidance systems. That being said most catastrophic accidents happen when a multitude of factors converge which could be operator, system, programming & big most scary one maintenance. The last reason is probably the biggest reason I am always I'm not as comfortable flying even though I have a degree in Aerospace. I did a big paper on the effects of fuel costs on the airline industry in the 80s. And fuel was cheap compared to now. Usually a area where they like to save on is in maintenance.
At some point there will be a mandate for all vehicles to be able to communicate with other vehicles as well as the "road".Kind of along the whole autonomous vehicle line:
No More Red Lights? Ford Imagines a Future Where Stopping at Junctions Could Become a Thing of the Past
They've already done that - and the Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler brand was the first known victim.Hacking vehicles will be the new entertainment.