Driving on autopilot

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I have been noticing lately when I drive, now I am a great driver. I get pissed at others for being absolute idiots and blatantly ignoring soooo many laws, but anywho...
I notice that when I go to leave one place, be it home, or whatever that I have a place in mind and I just auto pilot there. It's really hard to explain, sometimes even, like when I am with my mom, etc. that sometimes if a place isn't picked out or even if it is, and I am close to home, I just auto pilot home. So I have to turn around or whatever. Almost like I zone out kind of.

I used to not like driving, but now I really love driving. It's verry merry berry relaxing to drive on the freeway for hours and hours and hours. I also like driving on mountain roads.

I "autopilot" a lot. I think it happens to anyone who practices something enough.

From time to time, I autopilot a bit while walking between classes, and when I come out of it I have a difficult time remembering what happened during said autopilot. Sometimes I can't even remember how long I was doing it for XD.

Interesting. I find that driving places sort of wears grooves into my brain. The good side is that I can 'wake up' at my destination with little sense/feeling of having driven there. OTOH, it also means that if I need to go to somewhere [i]near/[i] to a place that I usually go my brain will slip into the groove that leads to usual place. So, I end up at the grocery store when I meant to go to the hardware store. And, I usually don't realize the error until after I've shut off the motor. And even though I've lived in this town for 40 years I still need a map to navigate anywhere that isn't near places that I usually go.

I think there's actually a neurological word for this, but I can't remember what it is. It involves the brain having trouble suppressing automatic/ingrained responses. An extreme form happens in people with severe Parkinson's -- they're totally frozen, but if you toss them a baseball or car keys their arm with go up and they catch it (the movie "Awakenings" has a scene showing that).

i would not mind it if i could just have a chauffeur drive me everyplace i wanna go.

I think I have only auto pilot once in my car. One time I was going to my son's play group and for a moment I thought I was going home to my old apartment because I was going the same route to get there. The play group happened to be the same direction.

But I have auto pilot to the bus stop so I have walked to the wrong bus stop several times on a Saturday so i had to call my aunt to come and get me and take me downtown to catch the train to work when I was in job training. On Saturdays I had to go to a different bus stop because the bus still ran at that time while the other bus didn't so I had to go to the different bus stop to get downtown. On weekdays I went to the bus stop I go to the other bus stop because the bus still ran at that time.

Everyone auto pilots so it's not an ASD thing but it's interesting to know that even we are capable of it too. I don't do it very often like some others do. I would even think habits are a auto pilot thing like I put my keys in my purse without even thinking after I turn the car off. Always lock the doors as I get out so i was locking my son in the car after I had him and would always have to get my keys back out to get him out. I was locking my husband in the car for the first year we have been together. He had to tell me every time I locked him in and I would tell him it's a habit. I still do it occasionally.

another similar place is the coastal community of ocean shores [washington state]. there are cars there and traffic can get crowded in summers with all the vacationers. but one can walk up and down the place without getting too tuckered-out. but the nearest hospital is an hour's drive away in aberdeen.

that is normal OP, a lot of NTs i know do the same, and not only with driving. for example, if class has been moved to another room in the same building, you see people entering the regular room, remember "oh crap, that's right" and leave again, or they walk to the supermarkets diary fridge and open the door with milks "no, i needed yoghurt..."

Yup, this is quite common actually. I think most people do it on familiar routes. Still pretty neat, though!

Driving on autopilot is mostly how i do, especially that we live in a more rural area now, less people and hardly no traffic at all.
It's relaxing when i do go for a drive, and my driving record has been great the past several years.