I think that the comparison of an aircraft autopilot to a car autopilot is just apples to oranges. They both operate in completely different environments, with different amounts and types of noise, are designed at a high level to do totally different things (yes they both "steer", but the problems they solve have no overlap), and are functionally completely different. I see this comparison a lot, and it doesn't add anything to the conversation, other than pointless bickering.