Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun told Bloomberg TV that fully autonomous passenger planes are inching closer to takeoff, with it being only a matter of when not if.
Currently, setting up and managing an aircraft's autopilot and other automated systems is typically required to pilot a high-tech passenger jet. However, we are not yet in a situation where computer systems can completely replace human pilots.
Driving the news: At an event this week celebrating the delivery of the final commercial 747, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun told Bloomberg TV, "Autonomy is going to come to all of the airplanes eventually."
"The future of autonomy is real" for civil aviation, he added.
Boeing rival Airbus, meanwhile, has been testing a suite of advanced autonomous flight systems it's calling DragonFly.
In-flight situations (such as a human pilot who is incapacitated) can be handled by DragonFly, which is also intended to reduce the workload of pilots while navigating complicated airports.
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