I’ve seen mentioned on the Web in several places that Google Ads is an auction bid and then again that it is not. Finally in Google’s own help information on Google Ads they themselves use the “Auction” term.
I have long felt that getting to position one on a keyword had an auction factor to it as one could bid up the price, but in some cases never pay the actual bid price and raise a keyword s’s position. Now at least it is clearly in the open. Yes Google Ads does have an auction-like bid to position.
Remember there are additional factors that affect your keywords page position like quality score, ad text, and even landing page match and now auction is another one.