Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation at least 150 to 200 words:

In platform engineering, automation’s primary goal is to eliminate manual, repetitive toil by codifying repeatable workflows and guardrails so teams can focus on higher-value work. Authoritative Cloud Native Platform Engineering guidance emphasizes that platforms should provide consistent, reliable, and secure self-service capabilities—achieved by automating provisioning, configuration, policy enforcement, and delivery pipelines. This directly reduces cognitive load and handoffs, shortens lead time for changes, decreases error rates, and improves overall reliability. While automation often improves code quality indirectly (e.g., through automated testing, linting, and policy-as-code), the central, explicitly stated aim is to remove repetitive manual work and standardize operations, not to simply “do more tasks” or prioritize manual intervention. Therefore, option A most accurately captures the intent. Options B and C misframe the objective: platform engineering seeks fewer manual steps and better outcomes, not just higher task counts. Option D is a beneficial consequence but not the core purpose. By systematizing common paths (“golden paths”) and embedding security and compliance controls into automated workflows, platforms deliver predictable, compliant environments at scale while freeing engineers to focus on product value.