autopilot
noun
au·to·pi·lot
ˈȯ-tō-ˌpī-lət 
1
: a device for automatically steering ships, aircraft, and spacecraft
also
: the automatic control provided by such a device
Examples of autopilot in a Sentence
an airplane equipped with an autopilot
The plane was flying on autopilot.
Recent Examples on the Web
What used to take hours of manual work now runs on autopilot.
—
Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 15 July 2025
Imagine an airline that, because of the introduction of the autopilot with auto-land and auto-take-off features, decides to fill some of the flights with only junior pilots.
—Marco Argenti, Fortune, 3 July 2025
Tesla has implemented autopilot and self-driving features on its vehicles that include traffic-aware cruise control, semi-autonomous navigation, response to traffic lights and the ability to summon the car from a parking space.
—Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 June 2025
The Trump administration, for the moment, doesn’t appear to be deeply interested in questions of nuclear policy, and so things are really just on autopilot from where the Biden administration left off.
—Joshua Keating, Vox, 27 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for autopilot
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 15 July 2025
Imagine an airline that, because of the introduction of the autopilot with auto-land and auto-take-off features, decides to fill some of the flights with only junior pilots.
—Marco Argenti, Fortune, 3 July 2025
Tesla has implemented autopilot and self-driving features on its vehicles that include traffic-aware cruise control, semi-autonomous navigation, response to traffic lights and the ability to summon the car from a parking space.
—Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 June 2025
The Trump administration, for the moment, doesn’t appear to be deeply interested in questions of nuclear policy, and so things are really just on autopilot from where the Biden administration left off.
—Joshua Keating, Vox, 27 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for autopilot
Cite this Entry
“Autopilot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/autopilot. Accessed 22 Jul. 2025.
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