Original Message

Industry is already ready to field them for certain situations this next year or two:

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2022-07-13/digital-copilot-approach-cuts-pilot-workload-say-oems

The military has been working towards this for years and is not far off from a viable R2D2.  Autonomous aircraft are already a reality; that's nothing new, but a compatible single pilot assistant is what's being pushed.  

https://www.military.com/dodbuzz/2019/03/14/r2-d2-cockpit-air-force-testing-skyborg-ai-program.html