Data convergence for efficiency: A holistic rethink of the passenger experience

Convergence of data services is revolutionizing communications considered as a distinct discipline, but the greater revolution over the decades to come will be the blurring or even erasure of the boundary lines between disciplines. A major driver of this trend is the projected need for drastic reductions in the use of energy, especially by airlines and other segments of the transportation industry. Such efficiencies can be achieved only when the left hand of practically everything understands what the right hand of almost everything else is trying to do. In terms of the transportation of people and goods, this kind of comprehensive understanding must start with a top-down view of each passenger's travel goals and constraints. The package express services have, to a high degree, developed such a top-down view about individual packages, making a good starting point. But people, unlike packages, can modify their goals while the transportation process is going on, requiring nimble responses to create seamless updates to the plans. The evolutions imagined here transcend the traditional boundaries among NAS management, airlines, airports, and booking systems. Multimodal transportation companies are envisioned, in which air transport participates wherever it's the most efficient way. Efficiency, in this context, is an ingeniously balanced mix of safe operation, minimal energy usage, and a fair and hassle-free experience for the passenger. The complexity of tradeoffs required to reach these goals will be more than any unaided human can handle and present, so there will be a definite feeling that passengers are interfacing with robots for much of the process. Fortunately, the progress in artificial intelligence over the past 50 years and projectable over the next 100 years is likely equal to the task.