Connected to TCAS, separated by a thousand feet and miles by design and flight plan, and listening to enroute controllers. "The crowded skies" aren't.
I've been flying for longer than I was working, and I know first hand that the only place it gets crowded up there is in class "B" airspace, and around airports - where autopilots are disengaged.
Glad to hear, though, that automotive companies are taking the danger of their autonomous activities to heart and increasing the rigor through which software is certified - but that reassures me not at all.
I’ve been involved in both automotive and aerospace. I did the device drivers & “BSP” for the Boeing 747 flight management computer. I’m currently working on next gen passenger vehicle architectures.
There are vast differences between the two. As pointed out, the use-cases are very different, as well as the economics. So are the regulatory environments.
In systems requiring functional safety at the highest levels, software has high standards - you must be able to show that every execution path in the code has been tested. Avionics systems are really far less complex, hence the ability to generally fly themselves. For passenger vehicles, to successfully navigate the complex environments and drive, at least, as well as a human, all kinds of exotic software must be used. Neural networks, massive parallel processing, complex operating systems, all mount up to be 10’s of millions of lines of code. You can show that it works but you must also be accountable for HOW it is developed and tested. It’s too complex. The standard practices break (economically).
I’ve seen many autonomous vehicle start-ups (along with OEM programs). Most of the people involved are R&D types. They’ve no idea what “functional safety” is respective to software. Many executives have been shocked, you have a working prototype only to be told that the development must be done again from the ground up - to be done *properly*...all these exotic architectures need certification, which isn’t happening (cost).
I appreciate the comments, I understand each and don’t necessarily disagree. Autonomous vehicles are inevitable, at some point - but it’s going to have to take another path. I hope by getting things to the point where cars are just really hard to crash.
For those that don’t want software in their car doing anything, I can only say good luck - but the industry has become better. The Toyota Prius runaway throttle cost them billions. There’s some really good YouTube videos on the matter for those interested, all kinds of lessons learned.