According to Affonso (Engineering SVP for Embraer), upon lining up on the runway, pilots will select the auto-takeoff mode along with autothrottle and engage the autopilot. They will still manually correct heading with the pedals if needed. The takeoff roll is initiated by pushing the power levers forward to engage the autothrottle. “The only thing that changes is that pilots do not rotate the aircraft themselves,” Affonso said. They will still have their hands on the yoke, just like they would during an automatic landing.
Interesting that they expect the pilot to control the lateral part of the ground run, so not a true auto-takeoff?
If the margins are going to be reduced to the bare minimum and the pilots are supposed to intervene in the event of it not going right, how do they know that this is what is happening? And if it happens after losing an engine after V1, will they be able to fly it accurately enough to clear obstacles?