I'm not sure if you're being serious, but the way "autopilot" works in a private yacht is the captain turns it on and goes below deck and gets drunk with the rest of the crew. It just maintains a heading towards a destination at that point.
You learn very quickly on the water to get out of the way of large private yachts when in open waters. There is literally no one at the helm. Even if they did notice you, they aren't in a position to halt the boats travel.
Autopilot in planes is not remotely as you described. It is used to reduce cognitive load precisely so pilots can pay more attention to higher cognitive demand tasks than maintaining straight and level flight. Such as collision avoidance, radio communication, navigation, briefing, etc.
Your point only alleges that amateur yacht drivers act irresponsibly, not that naval autopilot systems are inherently unsafe.
If by "radio comms", you mean playing a pre-recorded emergency message on a loop telling everyone to get out of the way.
It can't visually identify non-ADS-B traffic (and I'm not even sure yet if it will avoid ADS-B equipped traffic?), it can't comply with ATC clearances, it can't coordinate with other pilots in the pattern, and it will happily fly your aircraft right into potentially-fatal icing conditions. It certainly can't be used during routine flight.
Garmin Autoland is a wonderful piece of engineering, but even at best it's not a replacement for what a pilot would normally be doing to safely navigate. It's strictly there as a last-resort measure if the pilot is incapacitated.
Drivers get so much leeway that it's not even funny. Commercial air pilots get their licenses temporarily suspended if they're simply accused of being intoxicated.
Was the biker the police chief's son-in-law, or some rot like that? Did the driver have a few down at the local, but didn't quite blow a 0.08?
Most hit-and-runs don't even result in jail time[1]. But sure, I can believe that hitting and killing the wrong person may once in a blue moon result in the law coming down on you like a ton of bricks.
I read the whole article twice but didn't see anything saying that "Most hit-and-runs don't even result in jail time“.
It basically says that statistics on conviction are unknown, and sometimes people don't see jail time.
And no, the driver wasn't drinking. They were 17 at the time and went to prison instead of college. I remember it because they had a soccer scholarship. I was scared because it could have easily have been me going to prison
The extra dimensionality of roads < seas < skies help a lot. Though I suppose various standard corridors and channels collapse those dimensions somewhat.
You learn very quickly on the water to get out of the way of large private yachts when in open waters. There is literally no one at the helm. Even if they did notice you, they aren't in a position to halt the boats travel.