Av May 2026

Context: Software development, video processing, and coding. Note: In programming, av often refers to the FFmpeg library prefixes (AVFormat, AVCodec).

Predicting technology is dangerous, but industry consensus suggests the following timeline: Context: Software development, video processing, and coding

By 2030, Level 4 will be common in geofenced "autonomy-ready" districts of major cities. Highways will have dedicated lanes for autonomous trucking platoons. Personal Level 3 vehicles will be widely available, allowing drivers to safely take their eyes off the road in heavy traffic. Highways will have dedicated lanes for autonomous trucking

By 2040, the transition will accelerate. Car ownership may decline in dense urban cores as Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS)—subscriptions to AV fleets—becomes cheaper than owning a depreciating metal box that sits idle 95% of the time. Car ownership may decline in dense urban cores

By 2050, if we are successful, the steering wheel will become a relic, found only in vintage car museums. The concept of "driving for fun" will exist, but "driving for transport" will be viewed as archaic and dangerous.

An Autonomous Vehicle is a rolling supercomputer. The typical sensor suite includes: