If you create a bean which is a Map you can definitely autowire it. I have autowired collections in my code (Map) using
@Resource annotation. But that's kind of autowiring by name.
Now as far as the statement is concerned, I think you've taken it from this statement:
Spring Docs wrote:With byType or constructor autowiring mode, you can wire arrays and typed-collections. In such cases all autowire candidates within the container that match the expected type are provided to satisfy the dependency. You can autowire strongly-typed Maps if the expected key type is String. An autowired Maps values will consist of all bean instances that match the expected type, and the Maps keys will contain the corresponding bean names.
Looking at the complete statement, it's talking about creating a Map or array of beans for you which match the specified type. I've never done this myself but it certainly seems possible...