As others have commented, it's not unusual for the container ship to be on auto-pilot, but just like commercial aircraft that use auto-pilot frequently, the cockpit is still manned in the even of an emergency. It's not like this was a transit from the West Coast to Hawaii; these were highly-traveled shipping lanes.
“””The deadly collision between a U.S. destroyer and a container ship June 17 took place while the freighter was on autopilot, according to Navy officials.”””
‘According to Navy officials’ it seems to know more about the ACX CRystal than they know about the USS Fitzgerald.