In late October, two research helicopters from the manufacturer Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, made a dozen test flights over Long Island Sound, Connecticut taking care to avoid other aircraft in the area around them. Except the ordinary-looking helicopters were flying autonomously – guided by NASA-designed software – and those other aircraft were virtual, part of a simulation to test pilotless flight systems. This was the first time two autonomous aircraft were flying at one another using NASA designed collision avoidance software. The test flights were part of a collaboration by NASA, …