But If I said I had a fully automated auto-pilot... Would that be legal I wonder?
IDK if it was you, but there was this discussion on the forums about releasing a python (language) based autopilot on github, and Fdev told the guy that he cannot use (against TOS to use any automated actions in game, so even pip macros are a "felony") it and to publish his source code he needs permission/license from their legal department...
So yes, it is violating the TOS. Would anyone care? If you don't go around trumpeting it on the forums, I sincerely doubt anyone would even notice. This game has multitude of problems, people using autopilot to skip boring 1000-s of loading screens isn't one of them.
I also find it fascinating, in a social study kind of way, seeing a bunch of adult people jumping on the (apparently) Social Justice Warrior cause of "other players are earning too much too quick, let's put a stop to it". We also see "snitching" in the same test group, pandering to "authority" (fdev) and so on. Fascinating, really fascinating. Even the language used is fascinating. Portraying this as a "problem" that "needs to be dealt with" while it is not affecting anyone besides the player who chooses to "exploit it"... Like said, fascinating.