Piloté

Piloté is the past participle of the French verb piloter, meaning to pilot or operate a vehicle or device. It functions as both a verb form and an adjective.

As a verb, piloté appears in compound tenses such as il a piloté l'avion (he piloted the plane) or elle a piloté le drone (she piloted the drone). When the direct object precedes the participle in the passé composé, the past participle agrees in gender and number with that object, as in les avions qu'il a pilotés.

As an adjective, piloté describes something that is steered or controlled by a pilot or operator, for example un véhicule piloté or un système piloté. In contemporary usage it is common in contexts of aviation, maritime or robotics to denote equipment actively controlled by a human operator, as distinguished from autonomous or remotely operated systems. The term is also used in the figurative sense to describe processes or studies that are guided by a specific person or plan, for instance a pilot project or pilot study in French, though the exact phrasing may vary (un essai pilote, une étude pilote).

Etymology: piloté derives from the noun pilote, itself from piloter, which traces back to the idea of steering or directing a vehicle.

See also: piloter, pilote, pilotage, drone piloté, véhicule piloté, étude pilote, projet pilote.