From what I understand Concord response time is slower in lower sec systems, so it sounds like autopiloting through 0.8 and 0.9 systems is safer than 0.5 or 0.6.
While suicide ganking haulers is much more common in 0.5 systems than elsewhere, I think this is mainly because sicide gankers can stay there longer before their security status falls to the point where they become kill-on-sight in the system. They don't fit their ships expecting to get a second volley.
I'd strongly suggest just not using the auto-pilot, especially given the current market conditions. Historically, suicide ganking has required an organized team. Someone a jump or two ahead to passively scan cargos, someone to sensor boost a tackler, an hauler to get the loot and a sufficient number of battleships to guarantee that target ship does in fact get ganked. While ships are no longer selling below net insurance payout like they were before the expansion, they've fallen in price to where the net cost of a ship is still very low. This means less organized gangs can afford to suicide gank. One or two ships trying to attack any hauler they see, plus their own hauler to collect the junk. Generally this means they only catch people using auto-pilot and the value of the cargo doesn't matter much.
It's not that hard to manually jump 20 systems and you'll do it in less than half the time. I use the time to surf the Web using the in game browser, watch TV and chat. I find it one of less tedious things to do in EVE because you really don't need to be paying much attention.
In any case, do not auto-pilot through the 0.5 systems around Jita. Don't auto-pilot through any of the choke point systems (0.5 or not) leading up to Hek on the route from Jita. You might get away with it if you fly during off-peak hours, but if you do it during the busy hours it's not going to be long before you get ganked. If you're in a hauler then these systems are much more dangerous than most low-sec systems.