Autonomous Airliners Anytime Soon?

<p>This research seeks to extend the body of knowledge on factors influential in the decision to fly on an autonomous airliner as a passenger. Only a handful of studies have probed this direct question in the last 16 years, but the data is showing a growing public acceptance of this type of travel. Pivotal in this consideration is the basic element of trust – trust in automated airliners and trust in the airline and Air Traffic Control systems which are responsible for autonomous airliners. Human trust has many forms and manifestations, but in the end, it is a dichotomous or binary choice; either a human does or does not trust. Longitudinally comparing the previous autonomous airliner research samples was technically impure because the respondent pools were dissimilar in age demographics, vocational backgrounds, and nationality. Nevertheless, a current, United States-focused sampling was taken to compare with the 16-year historical data available and explore trends in this emerging discussion.</p>