Except for take off and landing, which is the most dangerous part of the flight and which is still not within the competence of an autopilot to handle. And during the entire flight the human pilot is there, engaged with the aircraft and with the autopilot. Autopilot computers have had training wheels on for the past century.
These air taxis are not supposed to require a pilot at all. Taking the training wheels off is a big jump. Perfecting automated takeoffs and landings is a big jump. I am more than a little dubious that this NZ company is going to be able to do something that Boeing, etc, haven’t been able to do.
A lesson from history: back in the 70’s, helicopter ferry services sprouted up everywhere, and you had skyscrapers built with helipads on the roof intended to be used as terminals for helicopter-based mass transit service. All it took was one fatal crash to put a complete end to every single helicopter transit service in the US - people saw them as unsafe and you couldn’t sell tickets anymore. If this NZ company actually launches their envisioned air taxi service, the first serious crash of one of their taxis could well put them out of business permanently.
