Hang out in the Aviation StackExchange long enough and you'll see exactly that question come up. "Why do we even still have pilots?", or "What does a pilot actually do?".
Yes, in general, people are ignorant of what pilots do and what AutoPilot can and cannot do.
This is made even more confusing by recent progress in autopilot with some large jets getting auto-landing features.
And yes... a pilot can program the FMS with waypoints, altitudes, etc, get into the air, push a button... and the plane will indeed fly itself. Modern jets even have automatic throttle/power control too.
A better name for Tesla's system is what it actually is... Driver Asist. But that's not sexy... and we're far off into the weeds.
"Instant" means instant. There is no way to paint it differently.
It's disingenuous to call an ACH transfer "instant" instead of "It'll take several days during which time we'll lend you money", like RH did here.
To Average Joe, "Autopilot" means it flies/drives itself.