Don't Freak Over Boeing's Self-Flying Plane--Autopilot Already Runs the Skies

Boeing just got into the autonomous aviation game, with the goal of building jetliners that fly themselves, no pilots required. "The basic building blocks of the technology clearly are available," Mike Sinnett, Boeing's vice president of product development, said ahead of the Paris Airshow. The prospect of a pilotless passenger plane may strike you as crazy, even terrifying. But developing computer systems sophisticated enough to pull it off is well under way. Autopilot technology already does most of the work once a plane is aloft, and has no trouble landing an airliner even in rough weather and limited visibility.