The Airbus A320 was the first Airbus airliner to feature a sidestick flight-control system.
Instead of conventional control columns, the A320’s pilots use small side-mounted controllers. The captain’s sidestick is on the left side of the cockpit and the first officer’s is on the right. Pilot inputs are transmitted electronically through the aircraft’s fly-by-wire control system.
The design helped Airbus create a modern cockpit with digital flight controls and extensive flight-envelope protections. These protections can prevent pilots from commanding certain unsafe attitudes or speeds when the aircraft’s computers and sensors are operating normally.
The sidestick arrangement became a defining feature of later Airbus commercial aircraft, including the A330, A340, A350, and A380. It is not the same thing as an autopilot: pilots still command the aircraft, while computers interpret and manage the control inputs.