2027 could be the year autonomous cars finally take off — but China may get there first

The number of fully autonomous vehicles operating worldwide is still estimated at only about 10,000.

Machness said public tolerance for mistakes by autonomous systems is far lower than for human drivers.

“In the West, we estimate that we will see privately owned autonomous vehicles around 2030,” he said.

From cars to defense The companies building sensors for autonomous vehicles have also discovered another market hungry for the same technology: defense.

The shift highlights how technologies originally developed for passenger vehicles are becoming useful across robotics, defense and other autonomous systems.