Corrected entry: This happens a few times - when the TIE fighters are pursuing the X-Wings in the Death Star trench, there are insert shots of a computerized targeting system. We see a computer model of an X-Wing moving around on the screen, then rapidly flashing as it centers and is presumably locked on to. Then the pilot fires, and we cut to a shot out through the cockpit window. We see lasers fire widely to the side of the X-Wing, then continue to fire as they slowly track toward and eventually hit the ship - almost like using tracers to "walk" your fire onto a target. So what does the targeting system do exactly?
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Correction: Of course, X-wings do not stay still to be shot at, so it might be assumed that when the computer locked onto the fighter, it could then take over the firing mechanism or steering device and then automatically finish the process of chasing down and killing the fighter without the pilot's assistance. All the pilot needed to do was get close enough.
Sol Parker