[Onavo]

No. You don't need to know the autopilot to get your PPL. You do however need to know how to follow the POH (pilot operating handbook, which may include manufacturer guidelines for the autopilot) and perform basic instrument flying in an emergency. I don't recall any significant expectations of autopilot usage at the PPL level though.

[digitalPhonix]

The trend is to include as much as the aircraft’s capabilities in the checkride now.

For an IFR checkride, if you do it in an aircraft equipped with autopilot, at least one approach will have to be flown with the autopilot.

Not sure if that’s made it’s way to the PPL checkride (or been codified) but it’s inevitable.

[rogerrogerr]

> if you do it in an aircraft equipped with autopilot

There's also a (stupid, imo) tendency for APs to conveniently become inop right before a checkride. It's not accurate to say that all pilots, or even all pilots that have taken an IR ride, are "pilots who understand the capabilities and limits of aviation autopilot technology."

[tass]

I'm not sure it's been codified, but I was told I would need to understand how to use the VOR and autopilot if the plane I was in had one.

In the fleet at the school I was learning in (Cessna 162) only one plane had an autopilot, which meant nobody practiced with it, so they never scheduled this plane for a check ride.