AUTO (short for Autopilot) units are robots built by the Buy n Large Corporation, and designed to function as the autopilot aboard the starliner spacecraft. Shaped like a sailing ship's steering wheel, Auto units assist the ship's captain with his or her duties. He is the primary villainous antagonist of the film WALL•E, as he works against the Captain, EVE, and WALL•E.
The AUTO unit aboard the Axiom ran most of the ship's functions due to the Captain's severe obesity, but also was secretly charged with enacting Directive A-113.
The AUTO unit's central red eye is a direct reference to the HAL 9000 in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not only do Auto and HAL both share the central red eye, they also both share a secret directive which they attempt to carry out, regardless of the effects of the secret directive towards humans.