ORIGINAL: FalconWings
The language for autonomous flying is very different than UAV's, but no I haven't read it, but I don't have in order to understand what it implies. And yes so far FAA's answer has been no, perhaps the reason you don't see them overflying Burbank right now. But for how long do you think that will stand? Put Boeing, NGC, LM and NAVSEA together......BIG names, BIG think tanks. I say 10 years or so. Betcha a warm pot of Chilli.
Oh, I'd take that bet. All of those names plus a bunch of others pale in comparison to the number of commercial aviation operations in one day in this country, not to mention that they would be sharing the same sky as all of our friendly politicians in DC on their way home to kiss some babies. Then there's the fact that the FAA is probably the most powerfully entrenched bureaucracy this side of the IRS - they've held everyone off so far to work on their schedule with not so much as a whimper in the public domain...
You *may* see some number of "autonomous" aircraft flying in the NAS on a routine basis in the mid-term future, but they will be under direct ground control and limited to highly planned routes. "Thinking" machines flying around on their own cognition are still the stuff of dreams - both in the eyes of technologists, and in the eyes of retired commercial airline pilots like my Dad who remember a day when that was actually a description of them...
Bob