Eye tracking has become a core research methodology for understanding human development, social cognition, and neuropsychiatric conditions. In this panel, we follow the next logical evolution of eye tracking in autism research towards large scale studies that begin to blur the line between research technique and practical tool. The thematically-linked presentations in this panel report on new eye tracking findings involving four institutions and 1,808 unique participants including 696 individuals with ASD. Weaving between the science enabled by eye tracking and the eye tracking enabled by methodological advances, the goal of this panel is to provide perspectives on (1) what eye tracking across large samples tells us about autism, (2) the potential of eye tracking as a practical tool for discovery, therapeutics, and phenotyping, and (3) the methodological issues that must be addressed to enable the next generation of big data studies using eye tracking in autism research.