From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishautomatic pilotˌautomatic ˈpilot noun [countable, uncountable] 1 TTAa machine that flies a plane by itself without the need for a pilot2 → on automatic pilot
Examples from the Corpus
automatic pilot• If she could get to Tottenham Court Road tube station, she could get home almost on automatic pilot.• I've been on automatic pilot for 25 years.• What others do on automatic pilot becomes a tiresome, anxious, effortful task.• I leapt out of bed and dressed on automatic pilot.• We fool ourselves by thinking we can go on automatic pilot, that we can survive by going through the motions.• By now I was talking and singing on automatic pilot whilst my heart and brain were thudding with a heady mixture of adrenalin.• I was on automatic pilot, doing what I do best.• She had been so immersed in her anger and indignation that she had been working on automatic pilot herself. 