Last of the Mohicans

And you expect them to get into NY Harbor without a pilot on board and in command?

It's a very long way off IF it happens.
 
There have been other articles about this. I bet we see some in 10 years or less.
 
quote:
Originally posted by boatbum

And you expect them to get into NY Harbor without a pilot on board and in command?

It's a very long way off IF it happens.

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Under the present control methods, no. However I can imagine a control systems and methods that could make that happen. After all, we allow airliners doing 400 knots closure come head on at each other before turning towards parallel runways just 2500 feet apart and they do so under full automation. In fact under such circumstances, automation is required.
 
There will always be harbor pilots, they have too much of a lucrative monopoly on that part of ship operations

Underway, I just can't imagine crew less ships operating on the high seas, fine when everything goes well but a two week passage requires more maintenance than an 8 hour flight
 
Think Unions. I can see airplane pilots surrendering to automation because well, it's too damn difficult and closing rates are high. But a bit ol' freighter at 8 knots?
 
Can drones join the MM&P or the SIU? Believe me the Maritime Unions are already all over this, just like the airline pilot's union are fighting drone aircraft. The Greeks have been running ships for years using a dog, that is trained to bark when it sees a light, to stand a wheel house watch. There are already AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) running around under you, why not surface craft.

You are right about the pilot's associations. The only way you are going to knock out the The Associated Branch Pilots of the Port of New Orleans, The Crescent River Pilots, The New Orleans and Baton Rouge Port Pilots NOBRA) or the The Lake Charles Pilots is to donate A LOT more MONEY to key state Legislators in Louisiana and I'm talking millions of $$'s.
 
Robert Heinlein wrote a book called Friday in 1982. It was just a fun scifi book set in the future where there were automated flights and the pilots were fighting this. the main character said she'd never fly an automated plane because the computer doesn't have the same desire to survive that she does.

They can make the computers do all these wonderful things, but they can't give them a human's desire to survive. I'd always want a human in charge, even if they just sit there and let the computer do all the work 99.9% of the time. I would want somebody to have an override for when the computer makes a mistake.

Having said all that, I use my autopilot on my boat all the time. I don't use it and then go off and watch TV though.
 
Plus large ships do not get pulled out of service for maintenance, it s all done underway so not much to gain by eliminating crew which being from banana republics is paid peanuts unlike flight crews :)
 
I can just see it now. A drone cruise ship. The passengers entertain themselves.

George
 
I seem to remember the maritime unions fought containerized cargo too. A walk along San Francisco's Embarcadero will testify how that fight went.

Look, even I as an airline pilot can see my profession's demise. You can now order a 777 with auto take off capability, you do not need to order auto landing capability, it is standard. The airplane I fly if something goes wrong demands that you complete the computerized checklist down to the last detail before it will reconfigure itself for the crippling event. It would be very easy to program that checklist to activate the system the pilot now does himself. The two weak points to autonomous operations is sensors and communications. Once broad band sat comm is enabled (as in internet over the ocean our passengers so crave) to eliminate communication latency, it is just a matter of reliable sensors and/or sensors which are continuously monitored for their integrity and it is all over. Believe me, companies are not launching all those commercial communication satellites accessed by airliners so you can surf the web at 35,000 feet.

As to the low wages of crews, that is only one part of the equation. When you eliminate the bridge, crew quarters etc as the article says, you gain a lot of payload capability both in volume and weight.
 
When I was in Naval Aviation one of the tests for the F/A-18 was take off, fly a preset course and land all by computer. That was in the '80's. The pilot was on board merely to intervene if the computer farqued up.

I don't see pilots going away an commercial aviation any time soon. I don't believe the consumer will get over that comfort factor for a few generations.
 
Pilots will go away, system operators will still exist and they may even be remotely located.
 
Sorry for the link repost, I thought it was a different article.
 
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