NPC Pilots
These are available in Beta 1.31xx.
Can be found at colonies, in the Landing Bay. (Land in them as if doing EVA)
The NPC is a chatbot, with limited vocabulary and AI.
To hire one, enter these words:
You: "I want to hire you."
NPC: "Are you trying to hire me?"
You: "yes"
NPC: "What do you want to hire me to do?"
You: "Fly ship.
NPC: "Ok. I'll make my way to your ship I guess, and you can take me to the one you want me to fly."
After that, you can assign them to a ship by: Fly to a station where you have an extra ship, or have purchased a new ship. Use the Manage Ship button and you will have a "Crew" and "Pilot" button. Click Crew. Assign the NPC to the ship. Click Pilot. Give the pilot a command.
Trivia
When the Pilots were in Beta, one of them Rhes Spangler stole countless ships and made off with them. The last person to see him was gotpurplefleas, who reported that Rhes was tunneling into a planet.