Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Emerging Tech
  3. News

Amazing new autopilot system can safely land a plane if the pilot is incapacitated

By
Most pilots flying today have access to the aircraft parachute, which allows them to eject and float to the ground in the case of plane trouble. But if the pilot is incapacitated and can’t activate the parachute manually, he’s in a whole other kind of trouble. To remedy this problem, a firm called Diamond Aircraft has created an autonomous piloting system that can identify situations of emergency and land planes safely at the nearest airport. Because Diamond specializes in one-seater and two-seater planes, it doesn’t have to worry about passenger safety – in these birds, the pilot is the passenger.
Recommended Videos

Engine failure, plane damage, and flight control issues are all examples of aircraft problems that a parachute can fix, but physical issues –ones that would prevent the pilot from yanking the lever to launch the parachute– are what  Diamond Aircraft’s autopilot system is designed to protect against. The innovative new system is designed to kick into gear whenever a pilot suffers a medical emergency or passes out.

Related

To make this happen, Diamond Aircraft seems to have taken cues from self-driving cars, but the company’s autopilot system is also inspired by existing airplane technology. For example, some airplanes are capable of detecting hypoxia (incapacitation due to lack of oxygen to the brain) and autonomously navigating to lower altitudes in order to revive pilots. Diamond has essentially built upon this kind of technolgy, but also taken a step further to design an autopilot system that can actually land the plane autonomously.

The plane’s onboard software can detect a problem in the cockpit based on standard procedures, so if a pilot doesn’t take the necessary steps to initiate the airplane’s descent and landing sequence, the system solicits a response. If the pilot doesn’t respond within a certain time, the autopilot takes over control of the plane in order to fly it to the closest airport and safely land the plane. The navigation system can even make assessments about airports that are close by to determine which one will be able to provide staff assistance for the pilot.

The Diamond Aircraft system has already successfully landed a plane without assistance in a company field test, and by next year the system will be available in the firm’s own planes, according to CEO Christian Dries. Implementing the autopilot system is expected to tack on an added 10% of the total aircraft cost, but the company expects customers dropping millions to be willing to splurge for an extra $80,000 to $100,000 on a safety precaution.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Chloe Olewitz
Chloe Olewitz
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Chloe is a writer from New York with a passion for technology, travel, and playing devil's advocate. You can find out more…
BYD’s cheap EVs might remain out of Canada too
BYD Han

With Chinese-made electric vehicles facing stiff tariffs in both Europe and America, a stirring question for EV drivers has started to arise: Can the race to make EVs more affordable continue if the world leader is kept out of the race?

China’s BYD, recognized as a global leader in terms of affordability, had to backtrack on plans to reach the U.S. market after the Biden administration in May imposed 100% tariffs on EVs made in China.

Read more
Tesla posts exaggerate self-driving capacity, safety regulators say
Beta of Tesla's FSD in a car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is concerned that Tesla’s use of social media and its website makes false promises about the automaker’s full-self driving (FSD) software.
The warning dates back from May, but was made public in an email to Tesla released on November 8.
The NHTSA opened an investigation in October into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with the FSD software, following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The investigation centers on FSD’s ability to perform in “relatively common” reduced visibility conditions, such as sun glare, fog, and airborne dust.
In these instances, it appears that “the driver may not be aware that he or she is responsible” to make appropriate operational selections, or “fully understand” the nuances of the system, NHTSA said.
Meanwhile, “Tesla’s X (Twitter) account has reposted or endorsed postings that exhibit disengaged driver behavior,” Gregory Magno, the NHTSA’s vehicle defects chief investigator, wrote to Tesla in an email.
The postings, which included reposted YouTube videos, may encourage viewers to see FSD-supervised as a “Robotaxi” instead of a partially automated, driver-assist system that requires “persistent attention and intermittent intervention by the driver,” Magno said.
In one of a number of Tesla posts on X, the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a driver was seen using FSD to reach a hospital while undergoing a heart attack. In another post, a driver said he had used FSD for a 50-minute ride home. Meanwhile, third-party comments on the posts promoted the advantages of using FSD while under the influence of alcohol or when tired, NHTSA said.
Tesla’s official website also promotes conflicting messaging on the capabilities of the FSD software, the regulator said.
NHTSA has requested that Tesla revisit its communications to ensure its messaging remains consistent with FSD’s approved instructions, namely that the software provides only a driver assist/support system requiring drivers to remain vigilant and maintain constant readiness to intervene in driving.
Tesla last month unveiled the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The vehicle has been promoted as a robotaxi, a self-driving vehicle operated as part of a ride-paying service, such as the one already offered by Alphabet-owned Waymo.
But Tesla’s self-driving technology has remained under the scrutiny of regulators. FSD relies on multiple onboard cameras to feed machine-learning models that, in turn, help the car make decisions based on what it sees.
Meanwhile, Waymo’s technology relies on premapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), which might be very costly, but has met the approval of safety regulators.

Read more
Waymo, Nexar present AI-based study to protect ‘vulnerable’ road users
waymo data vulnerable road users ml still 1 ea18c3

Robotaxi operator Waymo says its partnership with Nexar, a machine-learning tech firm dedicated to improving road safety, has yielded the largest dataset of its kind in the U.S., which will help inform the driving of its own automated vehicles.

As part of its latest research with Nexar, Waymo has reconstructed hundreds of crashes involving what it calls ‘vulnerable road users’ (VRUs), such as pedestrians walking through crosswalks, biyclists in city streets, or high-speed motorcycle riders on highways.

Read more