Inside Darpa's Plan to Make Old Aircraft Autonomous With Robot Arms

There's a reason Tesla and its competitors use the term "autopilot" for their semi-autonomous cars: Aviation is way ahead of the auto industry when it comes to making machines handle themselves. And yes, the very latest Airbus, Boeings, and F35 fighter jets can pull all sorts of tricks to help the pilot. But the vast majority of the planes in the sky, military and civilian, still rely on humans pilot to manipulate the joysticks and pedals that move their flaps and ailerons. Now, the US Department of Defense says it can make those primitive aircraft, built around cables and pulleys, ready for the age of autonomy--and a robotic arm is part of the answer. Autonomy will prove a crucial feature of 21st century air transportation and warfare, but it's not the easiest thing to add to the current fleet.