I'm not picking this apart but can you point me to the law, that states you personally must have the ability to take control of autonomous flight or your flying "illegal"? I would like to site the reference to others. The FAA states rules/guidelines, but I find no citation to a law, thus not technically illegal to break a "rule" IMHO? The FAA rules are quite a bit subjective in my view and could be very speculative...much gray area to me. Much the same as flying BLOS...what law prohibits this function for recreational flyers? I would say it must be a federal statute obviously?
I agree that the FAA guidelines are vague and incomplete, but the FAA has the authority to specify what they want ... as a government agency they can make enforceable rules without there being a specific law to support them. That being said, here's the link to the actual law:
It says the operator must control the drone within certain boundaries. It doesn't say that it's OK for a computer to do so on its own, and you can bet that the FAA wouldn't see it that way. It also clearly states that the drone must be within visual line of sight.
That's the best I can do .
