The continuous deployment process is fully automated. No exceptions. If your pipeline is not automated, it is not continuous deployment. You might require a manual action to deploy to production. If that action consists of pressing a single button that says, in bold letters, deploy, your process is continuous delivery. I can accept that. There might be business reasons for having such a button. Still, the level of automation is the same as with continuous deployment. You are only a decision maker. If there are any other manual operations, you are either doing continuous integration or, more likely, something that should not have a word continuous in its name.
No matter whether it is continuous deployment or delivery, the process is fully automated. You are excused from having manual parts of the process only if your system is a legacy system...
