Major car producers are expecting driverless cars to cruise into the market in as little as three years.

The evolution of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in the automobile industry is accelerating. Popular car producers such as Ford, GM, and Toyota believe that driverless cars will become a reality by as soon as 2020.

Other popular brands contend times that are even sooner than that.

The race is on for driverless cars

Volkswagen’s Head of Digitalization Strategy Johann Jungwirth envisions cars that will pilot themselves by as soon as 2019.

Discrepancies between predictions are minimal, with time periods ranging from 2019-2021. Uber Fleet falls the furthest from standard forecasts with CEO Travis Kalanick citing 2030 for when Ubers will provide a completely autonomous service.

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However, 13 years hardly strains patience and imagination when compared to predictive fantasies conjured in the past.

The playfully optimistic expectations of the 1961 children’s book, World of Tomorrow anticipated cars that would drive by themselves over electric highways.

While the classic tome engaged readers through wistful promises that had no footing in its own reality, contemporary dreamers won’t have to hit snooze for long.

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BMW is another popular brand that plans to join the driverless scene. It plans to launch the iNext, a self-piloting electric vehicle in 2021.

Tesla, is an ambitious force that’s keen to proselytize AVs in the automotive industry. It already features models equipped with self-driving hardware that enable partial automation.

Regulatory experts have defined levels of automation on a scale from zero to five, with five representing no driver required.

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Tesla’s current self-driving hardware operates at a Level 3. However Elon Musk, CEO of the cutting-edge car brand, hopes to steer Level 5 Tesla models onto the market by 2023. Musk is a dynamic force in pursuing the future of technology. As such, he is also invested in harnessing artificial intelligence in humans.

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