What does that really mean?
Skynet becomes aware.
Just what it says - it's going to (try to) land without a pilot.
I wondered about that, too. If it is supposed to mean that it is landed by remote control (from the ground), isn’t that what they did with the earliest unmanned rockets? Don’t tell me the first monkeys in space landed their own capsules.
I would have to believe it was a self aware machine if it was truly self-governing and independent.
If it was controlled from the ground then it would not be autonomous.
Main Entry: au·ton·o·mous
Pronunciation: \ȯ-ˈtä-nə-məs\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Greek autonomos independent, from aut- + nomos law — more at nimble
Date: 1800
1 : of, relating to, or marked by autonomy
2 a : having the right or power of self-government b : undertaken or carried on without outside control : self-contained (an autonomous school system)
3 a : existing or capable of existing independently (an autonomous zooid) b : responding, reacting, or developing independently of the whole (an autonomous growth)
4 : controlled by the autonomic nervous system
synonyms see free
— au·ton·o·mous·ly adverb