This is interesting. Imagine if passenger aeroplanes were autonomous, with computers handling the navigation, flight controls, traffic avoidance and all the other things that the pilots do today.
It makes sense that if Google is able to create a car that can navigate through the complexity of a modern urban landscape, it should be possible for an autonomous plane to go from one airport to another safely. After all, air traffic is much more controlled than automotive traffic. Routes are standard, and restricted to passenger traffic. There are fewer potential hazards en route too.
The only question is would you fly in one?
Source: Planes Without Pilots | News | Communications of the ACM.
On Machine Intelligence 