The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is expanding use of an $875 million AI tool, SMART, to “assist in managing air traffic across the entire national airspace system,” Ars Technica reported on Thursday—but the agency says that the route-management software will not affect air safety.
The FAA first rolled out the Strategic Management of Airspace Routing Trajectories (SMART) system for Washington, D.C., airspace in September and claims it has already rerouted 180 flights for average savings of 10 minutes and 80 gallons of fuel, Ars wrote (that’s just shy of $345 per flight, at jet fuel rates of $4.31/gallon as of Thursday). The agency wrote on Nov. 10 that after the D.C. test, it will “now use SMART in the airspace of all 22 centers across the country to reduce delays, reduce fuel consumption and improve the travel experience for the flying public.” The tech was already being deployed at some airports.
While FAA fact sheets describe the system as combining “weather patterns, flight paths, traffic flow and controller staffing metrics,” Ars wrote, the FAA also says a D.C.-based team of experts validates findings before they’re ever passed on to air traffic control, and the controllers retain the final decision on whether to accept SMART’s suggestions.
