[nearbuy]

Autopilot in planes does not handle takeoff. Pilots still do that. Traditional autopilot was mostly just to keep the plane flying straight. Capabilities have improved over time, but it still doesn't fly the plane the way Waymo drives itself.

[e44858]

Some planes can land automatically without the pilot's input: https://avbrief.com/autoland-saves-king-air-everyone-reporte...

Takeoff is probably easier to automate than an emergency landing.

[altairprime]

Notably, I believe the Cessna stall parachute in certain planes is autonomous by most definitions, not the least of which because it fires without pilot input and because it takes control of the plane away from the human to do so. I recognize this is a rather, uh, odd use of ‘autonomous’ — but it does technically serve as a pilotless emergency landing mechanism :)

[altairprime]

I like the use of “autonomous” to describe the intended outcome of “pilotless” here:

https://newatlas.com/aircraft/airbus-attol-autonomous-airlin... (2020)

[empressplay]

787s can both takeoff and land on autopilot. They can't handle taxiing to and from the gate, however.