"It also enables you to switch to "autopilot" for routine tasks like driving"

Stay smart, and don't do that!

I've done this before when I was a younger driver. It's terrifying to get to your garage and realise you don't remember the last 10 mins of driving. Since then I've used tricks to keep my active focus on driving. They usually involve counting cars and talking to myself about the current state of the drive.

People are taught about this in Driver's Ed now. It's called Highway Hypnosis. I've experienced it a few times now and it is a bit scary when you try to figure out how you drove somewhere without really realizing it.

Wow, I thought this was normal. Didn't consider it disturbing until now that you and the other comments mentioned it, and reflecting on how little I think about driving.

How dangerous is it? Do you "wake up" when something happens? Or do you wake up to late?

I don't drive and it just happened maybe once on a bike for me.

This is just about a mismatch of the rate of perception and the input rate.

Good movies avoid it by having depth to let your mind wander in to. I personally have to listen to podcasts at higher speeds not to drift off.