(1) Any air, water or land-based vehicle that neither transports nor is piloted by a human. See
drone.
(2) A network that is administered by a single set of management rules that are controlled by one person, group or organization. Autonomous systems often use only one routing protocol, although multiple protocols can be used. The core of the Internet is made up of many autonomous systems. See
ASN,
BGP,
routing protocol and
path vector protocol. See also
self-driving car.