1st of all, DayDreaming & Auto-Pilot are, to my mind, two completely different mental states.
DayDreaming is a completely unproductive mental state roughly equivalent to dreaming while asleep, one's body is accomplishing nothing productive, except possibly to betray that the daydreamer is paying ZERO attention to any of their external sensory processes. In other words, they can only be considered to be here physically; they are not 'here' mentally.
I NEVER DRIVE IN THIS STATE, and I submit that anyone who is physically driving while mentally driving to a place and time that does not 100% correlate to where and when they are at that precise moment, is placing themselves, and everyone and everything in the immediate vicinity in mortal jeopardy.
[As I'm still driving a taxicab,] the vast majority of fares/passengers are completely disinterested in 'making good time'; that is, they've left way more than enough time for me to complete the trip so that no extra attention to driving is required, it's ok if I get them there 20mins late, conversations about annoying subjects and concepts are still given full attention and consideration, 'don't spill my coffee', etc
On rare occasion, however, I'm asked to make 'good time', to which I respond:
"I'll do my best, but the only things I am responsible for are harm to others [including myself], and damage to property, neither of which I am willing to risk or allow. That said, I know why I was selected for this particular fare; I'll do my best to get you there as safely and as quickly as possible."
The mental state I then enter into could be considered 'Auto-Pilot'.
1. I can barely speak, and will most likely not remember most of what anyone said - though I will usually notice if asked to 'slow down', or things of the kind that are directly related to my 'mission'.
2. Near as I can tell, I've no thoughts or emotions, except self-preservation, evidence of which usually does not exceed driving so as not to allow anyone to get hurt, or anything to be broken, except maybe a traffic 'rule' or two here and there [or not; such 'rules' become meaningless].
3. Generally, I don't remember traffic control devices or road features which function so, unless they are highly unusual and/or absolutely ESSENTIAL to avoiding harm or property damage - most are not.
(My rule of thumb: 'red lights' may be treated as 'stop signs', 'stop signs' may be treated as 'yield signs', 'yield signs' may be treated as 'merge signs', and 'merge signs' are redundant.)
4. I'd assume this is the mental state Christopher Adam Tang (aka
AfroDuck) was in during his under-30-minute loops around NYC.
I'd like to believe that the difference between me and AfroDuck, is that I am NOT trying to drive as quickly as possible, but I've driven the same route in about 36 minutes in non-rush hour traffic, safely.
Toltec referred to a state of 'no mind'. If he was referring to what Bruce Lee meant, then Toltec and I may have slightly differing ideas of 'no mind', but that is nonetheless another way of referring to what I'm doing when I'm trying to make good time.
I don't see how I could enter this state during a traffic jam; traffic jams are all too boring.