"I think it is just a matter of time before computers replace humans as the drivers on our highways."
I hope not. Some of my best friends are software engineers, and I'm here to tell you, they DO make mistakes. When I worked in the industry, one of our customers came up with a spec saying that we had to ship our systems with bug-free software. I don't know how the sales people handled it, but engineers know that there is no such thing, and can never be.
Another problem with that scenario is that the decisions and risk assessments are effectively being done by the software engineer, who may feel bad if a driver gets killed, but does not have as much to lose as the driver and passengers. When I ride in a car (or an airplane, for that matter), I want the person making the decisions to have as much at risk as I do.
"People who scoff at this should note that the current generation of 777's can land themselves even with one engine failure(note they only have 2 engines!). How many pilot's could do the same?"
Almost all of them, actually. Pilots of multiengine airplanes are routinely trained and tested on landing with one engine out, and yes, that includes on planes with only two engines. If the pilot cannot demonstrate this, he or she is not given the multiengine license. And airline pilots are tested on this frequently. |
