They will be. I was thinking of this earlier today, and there is still some coordination between schedules, doors closing with people still trying to get on, etc. etc. In Sydney, you still have people blowing whistles to signal to the driver that it is safe to close the door and go.

I'm wondering if that is maybe a more difficult problem to solve than driving. In driving, you know the direction cars 'should' be going, you need to account for lane changes and turns, etc. but for the most part they are expected. I think in an open environment people are much less predictable in their movements.

Thoughts?

Because most subways run on legacy infrastructure that would be difficult to upgrade/replace. RF repeaters for emergency remote control for example would need to be installed, certified and thoroughly tested.

Given that drivers aren't a big cost centre for subway operations in comparison to maintenance etc. the cost/benefit doesn't make sense.

Automatic new line are easy but it's harder to automatize old line without interrupting traffic. It has been done for line 1 in Paris between 2007 and 2011 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_M%C3%A9tro_Line_1) but all other old line in Paris have still not been automatized.

The first fully automated subway line was in New York, in 1959. The Times Square - Grand Central shuttle was fully automated for six years.[1] But, per union rules, they still had someone on board. A major platform fire at the 42nd St station damaged the rolling stock, and when the station was rebuilt, the one-off automated system was not rebuilt.

The main reason for trying it on that line is that the trip is very short, and the train reverses at each end. The train operator's walk though the train to get to the other end caused delays. Paying for two drivers, one at each end, was a bit much.

[1] http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/IRT_Times_Square-Grand_Central...

Id say yes, it is entirely psycological, it should be doable now.