Similair to this was part of the original proposal for wings....
There was AI buddies you could recruit, the cheaper usually being more "backstabby" and you could be led into a situation where he betrays you for the big cargo he's supposed to be escorting. There was some awesome ideas in there.
But in typical FD fashion "wings" turnt out to be some half donkeyd, still buggy as hell, basic grouping mechanic. Something you'd of assumed would be a release feature and not the basis of a huge patch update.