Xing Zheng

It might not be obvious, but there is actually a lot of technology implemented in the world’s biggest sport called football (soccer) with an estimated 4 billion fans worldwide (Sawe, 2018), and technology is becoming more prevalent as well.

The current biggest challenge in this sport – and in many other sports as well – is to guarantee fairness in every possible football match by ensuring 100% accuracy regarding on-field decisions made by the referee. Therefore, lots of technology-based changes have been implemented into the sport. Goal-line technology helps with the decision whether a ball has crossed the goal line or not and was officially introduced in 2012 by FIFA. A more recent change is the video assisted referee (VAR), that reviews decisions made by the head referee with the use of video footage and a headset for communication.

Technology is also being implemented in a less visible way. Nowadays, football data analyst is an actual job. Almost every big club makes use of data analysts who analyse data with artificial intelligence and big data for player recruitment or for the analysis of opponents. The London-based football analytics company Opta Sports started with tapping buttons to record the time and location of every pass, shot, tackle and dribble. Nowadays, each Opta-coded match contains at least 2,000 data points (Burn-Murdoch, 2018). For example, clubs can use the data to see whether a player would strengthen, weaken or make little difference to their team’s overall performance level.

The next big challenge that includes technology might be engagement with fans of this beautiful game. As a result of the increasing attractiveness for fans from all over the world, fans want to become more engaged with their favourite clubs. There is an economic saying that wherever there is demand, supply will follow. Broadcasters, therefore, have the desire to get a closer look at matches. By 2028, the ability to squeeze HD camera technology into tiny spaces could be reality (Hurray, 2018). Image a new way of experiencing a match with a camera embedded in the ball itself. Even skin sensors are emerging within football (Cumming, 2014). Soon we will be able to see the players’ heart-rate, speed and other stats. You’d be able to look and say “this guy’s really punishing himself with a heart rate of 210” or whatever. Further in the future there will be active skin and active contact lenses. You would be able to experience the game through their eyes, and hearing what they’re hearing.

It seems, after all, that technology is indeed slowly taking over football. Some people even think that robots will take over the game within the next 50 years. Football has always been a classical and simple game, and I think it should remain like that. Do you think that the game will become more exciting with technology being more prevalent?

Bibliography

Burn-Murdoch, J. (2018). How data analysis helps football clubs make better signings. Financial Times. Retrieved from:

https://www.ft.com/content/84aa8b5e-c1a9-11e8-84cd-9e601db069b8.

Cumming, E. (2014). The future of football: will robots take over the beautiful game? Telegraph. Retrieved from:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/10648523/The-future-of-football-will-robots-take-over-the-beautiful-game.html.

Hurray, A. (2018). Future football: What will the game be like in 2028? Telegraph. Retrieved from:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/11/21/future-football-will-game-like-2028/.

Sawe, B.E. (2018). The Most Popular Sports In The World. World Atlas. Retrieved from:

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-most-popular-sports-in-the-world.html.

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Intelligent vehicles like self-driving cars have been the hot topics in the world of technology and transportation for a while now. However, can airplanes be automated as well? The answer is yes, they can.

A survey of Airbus and Boeing pilots found that they only manually fly about 3-6 minutes per flight (Rice, 2019), while the rest of the flight is in autopilot mode. Automated technologies can lead to less accidents and incidents caused by human error. Furthermore, modern commercial airliners already have automated systems that can replicate pilots, manage engine power, control and navigate the aircraft, and in some cases, even complete landings (Rice, 2019).

Secondly, automated flights can solve the global pilot shortage that commercial aviation is currently facing. The global shortage is projected to increase further as demand for air travel continues to increase dramatically (Rice, 2019). Furthermore, pilot salary, and therefore expenditures can be reduced in one of the least profitable markets. These are one of the main reasons why many airlines favour using autonomous commercial flights. Airbus and Boeing are currently developing their own autonomous air taxi (Falk, 2017). These are, however, intended for short urban hops — but the step towards long flights should not be too big from this. It looks like we are not too far away from the first pilotless airliner after all.

Thus, automation in the cockpit is not a new thing and airliners support the idea of it. Yet, why do fully automated commercial flights sound like a futuristic idea? Here is why.

The automatic technology can malfunction. Pilots still intervene on a regular basis when the automatics don’t do what they’re supposed to (Business Insider, 2019). Recently, concerns among pilots have been growing after two brand new Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft from Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashed within the time span of four months due to a faulty anti-stall software, killing 346 people in total. Boeing has said the pilots were not to blame. Faulty automatic anti-stall software – called MCAS – has been blamed for both crashes, causing unexpected nosedives from the system (Business Insider, 2019).

Another main problem is the customers’ willingness to go on board. Approximately 60 percent of passengers in multiple similar studies said they were unwilling to fly on an autonomous commercial airliner (Rice & Winter, 2019). Furthermore, customers’ trust in fully automated airplanes will fall after every major accident due to the autopilot, or one that the autopilot was not able to handle. If an autonomous airplane falls out of the sky, we can be assured this will result in a huge news cycle and put the timeline of autonomous commercial flight back a decade, just like the two incidents with the 737 Max 8 have done (Rice, 2019).

Furthermore, automated flights cause complexity for legal institutions and insurances, which is slowing down further development of the automatic technology. Currently, it’s impossible to insure transport planes with fewer than two pilots. Insurers will not be able to insure self-flying planes, making them too risky for airlines to commission (Ellis, 2019). This is one of the reasons, next to the lack of consumer’s confidence in the technology, why I do not see automated planes happening in the foreseeable future.

Do you think that fully automated commercial flights are coming soon? If so, would you be willing to go on board?

Bibliography

Business Insider. (2019). Airbus says it has the technology to fly planes with no pilots, but the challenge will be convincing people to get on them. Business Insider. Accessed at

https://www.businessinsider.nl/airbus-says-pilotless-flights-ready-when-you-are-2019-6?international=true&r=US.

Ellis, C. (2019). Self-flying planes and the future of air travel. Air Charter Service. Accessed at

https://www.aircharter.co.uk/about-us/news-features/blog/self-flying-planes-and-the-future-of-air-travel.

Falk, D. (2017). Self-Flying Planes May Arrive Sooner Than You Think. Here’s Why. Mach. Accessed at

https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/self-flying-planes-may-arrive-sooner-you-think-here-s-ncna809856.

Rice, S. (2019). Would You Fly on a Plane Without a Human Pilot? Forbes. Accessed at

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenrice1/2019/01/07/would-you-fly-on-a-plane-without-a-human-pilot/#2bc871925186.

Rice, S. and Winter, S. (2019). Despite Passenger Fears, Automation is the Future of Aviation. Discover Magazine. Accessed at

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2019/03/27/plane-aviation-automation-autopilot/#.XYpugEYzY2x.

Is Technology Taking Over Football?

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Commercial Flights Can Be Fully Automated, But They Won’t Be Anytime Soon. Here Is Why.

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