Automation Design

Automation technology is an important factor in helping aircrew mem­bers to perform more wide-ranging and complicated cockpit activities. NASA engineers and psychologists have long been actively engaged in developing automated cockpit displays and other technologies.[400] These will be essential to pilots in order for them to safely and effectively operate within a new air traffic system being developed by NASA and others, called Free Flight. This system will use technically advanced aircraft computer systems to reduce the need for air traffic controllers and allow pilots to choose their path and speed, while allowing the com­puters to ensure proper aircraft separation. It is anticipated that Free Flight will in the upcoming decades become incorporated into the Next Generation Air Transportation System.[401]