Air carrier flight crew reported autopilot system failure resulting in an expedited landing.

Attributes
ACN	1752841
Time
Date	202007
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.TRACON
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-700
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Autoflight System
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 16 Flight Crew Total 588 Flight Crew Type 588
Person 2
Function	Dispatcher
Qualification	Dispatch Dispatcher
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

On climb out from 6;000 ft to 13;000 ft with autopilot lnav vnav engaged. Vnav stopped being engaged. As 15;000 ft selected and confirmed the auto pilot disengaged. 15;000 ft in MCP replaced with 50;000 ft readout and aural warning sounded till touch down. Reset of auto pilot auto throttle and flight director did not work. We requested priority handling from ATC. East heading and 15;000 requested for troubleshoot. Unannounciated checklist and others assessed as well as coordination with company attempted. No response from company so air return to ZZZ vfr requested. Flight attendants briefed; pax briefed; descent checklist accomplished as well as vfr approach and landing into ZZZ accomplished. Taxi to gate and parking accomplished as well.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported autopilot system failure resulting in an expedited landing.

Narrative: On climb out from 6;000 ft to 13;000 ft with autopilot lnav vnav engaged. Vnav stopped being engaged. As 15;000 ft selected and confirmed the auto pilot disengaged. 15;000 ft in MCP replaced with 50;000 ft readout and aural warning sounded till touch down. Reset of auto pilot auto throttle and flight director did not work. We requested priority handling from ATC. East heading and 15;000 requested for troubleshoot. Unannounciated checklist and others assessed as well as coordination with company attempted. No response from company so air return to ZZZ vfr requested. Flight attendants briefed; pax briefed; descent checklist accomplished as well as vfr approach and landing into ZZZ accomplished. Taxi to gate and parking accomplished as well.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.