The FAA is expanding use of an $875 million AI tool, SMART, to "assist in managing air traffic across the entire national airspace system," but the agency says that the route-management software will not affect air safety.
Published yesterday. What’s the worst that could happen?
The first phase of the SMART rollout was only going to provide AI routing optimization, a thing AI/ML should excel at. No phase of this rollout was to replace human ATCs, only provide options to be approved.
So while this shouldn’t be the issue, it’s a hella coincidence.
Quite often. A flight plan is often a set of waypoints between a start and destination. Those waypoints can change due to traffic, weather, etc.
So I may file for a flight from Dallas to LAX one way, and they may grant a different way to get there due to a multitude of circumstances. The difference in routes can add hundreds of miles in some situations. This is not even mentioning different altitudes for the routes. It’s very common.
The first phase of the SMART rollout was only going to provide AI routing optimization, a thing AI/ML should excel at. No phase of this rollout was to replace human ATCs, only provide options to be approved.
So while this shouldn’t be the issue, it’s a hella coincidence.
Does that even make sense in preplanned routes? Is an atc going to tell pilot to fly someplace else?
Quite often. A flight plan is often a set of waypoints between a start and destination. Those waypoints can change due to traffic, weather, etc.
So I may file for a flight from Dallas to LAX one way, and they may grant a different way to get there due to a multitude of circumstances. The difference in routes can add hundreds of miles in some situations. This is not even mentioning different altitudes for the routes. It’s very common.
Ah okay, fair point, thanks.