In order to satisfy risk-averse aviation regulators , the researchers are working with britain 's civil aviation authority to certify a virtual pilotless aircraft for use in civil airspace .
Pilotless aircraft could carry out many jobs at a lower cost than manned aircraft and helicopters-tasks such as traffic monitoring , border patrols , police surveillance and checking power lines .
Among other things , this would pay for 50 pilotless predator drones of the kind the us military and cia are using to target militants in iraq , afghanistan and pakistan .
Police forces around the world are certainly keen to lay their hands on small pilotless aircraft to help them nab fleeing criminals and monitor crime scenes from above .
They claim that once unmanned aerial vehicles or drone technology becomes widespread , enhanced pilotless flights will become reality .
他们声称,一旦无人飞行器或者无人机技术得到普及,先进的无人驾驶航班将成为现实。
Pilotless cars , such as the volkswagen sharan ( nicknamed sharon ) , are no distant dream .
像大众sharan(绰号sharon)这类无人驾驶汽车,已经不是遥不可及的梦。
But driverless cars , like pilotless planes , will have to fit in with existing infrastructure and regulations , not least insurance liability , before they can take off .
For all its sophistication , against a " near peer " opponent the f-35 may not be able to do the job for which it has been intended nearly as well as the next generation of pilotless armed drones and hypersonic cruise missiles .