AI Air Traffic Tool Rolled Out at DC Airports

Air traffic controllers around Washington, DC, just got a new digital assistant, though not everybody's thrilled about it. The Transportation Department on Monday rolled out an AI-based system called SMART at Reagan National, Dulles, and Baltimore-Washington airports, pitching it as a way to spot bottlenecks weeks in advance and cut down on delays and cancellations, the Washington Post reports. SMART—Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories—pulls in data on weather, flight schedules, airport capacity, and staffing to flag future conflicts and suggest tweaks, like shifting some departures by a few minutes

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the tool "will slash those frustrating delays, reduce stress on air traffic controllers, and lower travel prices," but stressed that "it's always going to be a human that manages the airspace in America."

• Some experts, including Virginia Tech aerospace engineering professor Ella Atkins, questioned the lack of technical detail provided. "If you look at the FAA fact sheet, it's all about 'Here's all the stuff it does' and almost nothing about 'Here's the technology behind it,'" Atkins says. The air traffic controllers' union says it wasn't involved and insists any new tech must support, not supplant, controller judgment.

• Democratic Rep. Don Beyer, whose district includes Reagan National, called for use of the system to be suspended, NBC Washington reports. "The FAA should not use my constituents as guinea pigs for an unproven AI air traffic control system," Beyer, co-chair of the Congressional Artificial Intelligence Caucus, said in a statement Monday.
• Airlines, however, are enthusiastic. "If it works as we think it can, it will do more to reduce delays and cancellations than anything that's happened in decades," United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in a statement. The system, funded in part by a $12.5 billion air traffic overhaul bill signed by President Trump, is expected to expand nationwide after the DC test run, the Post reports.