I thought this article from BBC News on autonomous aircraft was interesting. I did not know that the largest autonomous fixed-wing aircraft approved for commercial civilian use in the USA is the Pyka crop sprayer.
I wonder, as drones and self-flying planes become more common in our skies in real-life, how this new direction in aviation might be reflected in MSFS in the future. 
The meme that shows the Airbus cockpit with just one big button that says “Fly” will no longer be a meme?
Nope, as the Airbus A399 will not have a cockpit! 
They’ve been doing autonomous pilotless aircraft testing at my home aerodrome for several years now. My opinion is that they will never “take off”. On the commercial side the big thing is package delivery, and holy cow are they annoying to hear. I can’t even imagine them dropping things throughout my neighborhood all day long. But the big one of course is pilotless aircraft, which is what ultimately the airlines are desperate to see. The problem is, nobody in their right mind will ever got on a pilotless aircraft. I sure as heck won’t.
I can’t see myself flying in a pilotless aircraft either, but by the time they are approved for commercial passenger use, I’ll be dead & buried a long time past.
Pilotless cargo aircraft are much more likely to be approved, especially for inter-island use where, since most of the flight is over water the risks might be considered more managable.
I’m hoping that the pilotless drones that companies such as Amazon are testing right now will never make it to my rural area. Having these thing buzzing around above me would drive me insane.
In the USA, there’s a fight brewing between the FAA & local officials who “cite concerns about privacy, noise, wildlife, nuisance behavior, and public safety.” See this article.
The FAA seems very gung-ho over the whole idea of businesses using drones. Under their “new proposal, operators would be able to pursue scalable unmanned aircraft operations for deliveries, agriculture, aerial surveying, emergency response, and other uses without individual permission for each route.”
Since deliveries by the latest Amazon MK30 drone model (the MK30) are executed through automated flight mapping that identifies optimal drop points clear of obstacles, I forsee a rush by property owners to buy and plant fast-growing tall trees to keep them away from their homes! 
That’s exactly who’s testing them at our airport and believe me, there will be a major uproar when they get rolled out. Which they will, because Congress will demand it.
Whilst Congress debates the matter ad-naseam, I suspect that in many rural areas in the US, drones will be viewed as vermin and treated as such by those owning firearms - which is about 99% of the folks in my neck of the woods. 
Fun conversation topic. 
On the subject of self-flying aircraft, I’ve asked many people I know if, after the technology is mature and has successfully completed the proper certification process (by the FAA in the US and equivalent regulatory agencies in other countries) if they would be willing to travel as a passenger in a fully autonomous (pilot-less) aircraft. With zero exceptions, everyone I know who is a pilot IRL says they would fly in a self-flying aircraft but everyone who is not a pilot IRL said they would not. I’m not sure what that means, but it’s an interesting correlation.
Shooting drones is a federal offense. Unfortunately. And because airspace is federal, it can’t be regulated at the state or local level. In other words, once the FAA says “go”, ain’t nothing nobody can do about it.
That’s kind of wild because I’m a RW pilot and I wouldn’t get on an autonomous aircraft with a gun to my head. Absolutely zero chance.
I’m also a pilot, and while I wouldn’t get into an autonomous aircraft today, I absolutely would with no hesitation at some future date once the tech is more mature and has received all the proper certifications from various regulatory agencies.
Already we’ve seen the Cirrus Safe Return Autoland system (which is fully autonomous) save lives by navigating to an appropriate airport and safely landing. It’s not that much of a stretch to expect the same technology could also control other phases of flight such as taxi, takeoff, and departure.
Yeah it’s an interesting debate. The chutes and especially the autoland systems are amazing, and I would buy an aircraft that had either if I could afford to. Especially single pilot, knowing your family had a chance if you conked out would be priceless.
How big that parachute is gonna be on the A399!
Yup. Unfortunately, just because something is a federal offence does not mean people don’t do it. There is a place for drones in society - but the boundaries are still to be decided.
W.r.t. self-fllying passenger planes, at some point, it might become the norm, but I don’t see society embracing it en-mass any time soon. We humans don’t handle rapid change well, and we are already seeing a backlash against AI (no datacenters in my neighborhood, than you!) Flock AI license-plate cameras (contracts cancelled because police officers were found using them to spy on women), social media bans for children, etc. etc.
Perhaps, if capacity starts slowly with aerial taxis, and slowly grows over time, it will increasingly be accepted, but we are in a chicken-and-egg situation where no airline is going to order an autonomous jetliner if surveys show passengers won’t fly in it, and Boeing & Airbus are unlikely to design one if no airline wishes to be customer #1, which is why I think cargo is currently the best customer for autonomous aircraft.
Sixty years ago I received a book for my birthday that described all the wonderfull technology that was going to transform aviation in my lifetime, from nuclear rockets that would take me to Mars, to pilotless aircraft that would whisk me from London to Sydney via a sub-orbital flight path in about two hours. I’m still waiting for both… 
It will be interesting for sure. I live in a suburb of a major city in the US and I see drones all the time making deliveries. I’ve even had a few drop stuff at my house.
How do you prevent them being impacted by jamming?
At least with real pilots, they can make a reasonable attempt at getting the plane safely back on course or on the ground.
I’ve spent 30-odd years in motor retail, and I’ve watched the same prediction get made about my industry since the mid-90s — automation and online sales were going to make salespeople obsolete. What actually happened is the routine parts got automated and the human moved up to where trust and judgement matter. I’d expect the skies to go the same way. Cargo and repositioning flights, maybe. Single-pilot ops with ground monitoring, eventually. But a fully self-flying aircraft with paying passengers is a trust problem as much as a technology problem, and trust moves far slower than tech. I’m working towards my PPL at the moment, and even at that level you learn quickly how much of flying is judgement the automation can’t see coming — weather that doesn’t match the forecast, a radio call that changes the plan. Transform the skies? Gradually. Replace the people up front? Not in my lifetime.
I attended a TIA (Tampa International Airport) employee meeting, and it was clear that they have plans to heavily invest in Air Mobility transportation.
If I was younger I would heavily invest in the companies developing those aircraft.
I’m by nature, more cautious. If I was younger and had a large amount of cash that I’d not worry about if it were totally lost, maybe, but I also recall the early days of trans-oceanic fibre optic cables and Internet satellite services, both of which are now mainstream technologies, but where companies trying to build out early versions of the technology failed spectacularly.
Some well respected investors - including Bill Gates - lost a bundle on their investments. Remember Teledesic?