Are unmanned passenger vehicles the future?
Posted by Courtney E. Howard
My renewed love of cable television has me addicted to The History Channel of all things. This evening I stumbled upon a show in which engineers discussed the future of unmanned vehicles.
One insightful professional predicts that military and commercial aircraft will transport passengers with no physical person in the cockpit--if future aircraft even have a cockpit.
There was a time, not all that long ago, that each time you stepped into an elevator, an elevator operator would transport its passengers, the man explained. You don't see that anymore. At the same time, he continued, millions of travelers step onto unmanned trams to be transported throughout a large airport. Most people think nothing of using these unmanned systems today. Experts expect the same to be true of stepping onto an unmanned aircraft in the future.
Will pilots one day be obsolete, replaced by advanced electronics? I wonder.
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
