National Autonomous Vehicle Day Date in the current year: May 31, 2025

An autonomous vehicle, also known as a self-driving vehicle, is a car or other form of transportation that can navigate and operate with significantly reduced or no human input by using sensors, cameras, radar, and artificial intelligence to sense its surroundings and make driving decisions.

The history of self-driving vehicles can be traced back to the 1920s. In 1925, the Houdina Radio Control Company demonstrated its “American Wonder”, a radio-controlled car equipped with an antenna on the hood and operated by a person from a second car following behind. Serious work on advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), however, did not begin until the late 1940s.

In 1948, blind inventor and mechanical engineer Ralph Teetor invented cruise control. He received a patent in 1950 for his invention, which he called “speedostad” (the name “cruise control” was later introduced by Cadillac). Research into systems that would allow the creation of self-driving cars began in the 1950s. In 1977, Japan’s Tsukuba Mechanical Engineering Laboratory unveiled the first semi-autonomous car that did not rely on rails or wires under the road.

In the 2010s, the Society of Autonomous Engineers (SAE) developed a five-level ADAS classification based on the level of autonomy of an autonomous driver assistance system:

• Level 0 - No automation: The human driver is fully responsible; the system may provide warnings and other information to the driver, but has no control over the vehicle.
• Level 1 - Driver assistance (hands on/shared control): The system may assist with either steering or acceleration/braking (e.g., adaptive cruise control), but the driver must remain fully engaged.
• Level 2 - Partial automation (hands off): The vehicle can control both steering and acceleration/braking under certain conditions, but the driver must monitor the environment and be ready to take control.
• Level 3 - Conditional automation (eyes off): The vehicle can handle all aspects of driving under certain conditions, but the driver must be able to intervene when needed.
• Level 4 - High automation (mind off): The vehicle can drive itself without human input in defined scenarios or environments (e.g., urban rideshare zones), even if the driver does not respond.
• Level 5 - Full automation (steering wheel optional): The vehicle is fully autonomous in all conditions, with no need for a human driver or controls.

As of 2025, two manufacturers are selling or leasing SAE Level 3 vehicles (Honda and Mercedes), SAE Level 4 self-driving taxis are available to the public in limited geographic areas (geofenced zones in several U.S. and Chinese cities), and no system has yet achieved SAE Level 5 (full autonomy).

National Autonomous Vehicle Day was created in 2017 by Emerging Prairie, a North Dakota-based nonprofit that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship by supporting startups, hosting events, and building community in the Fargo area, and Marlo Anderson, founder of National Day Calendar. The main goal of the holiday is to celebrate the progress of the autonomous vehicle industry and the promising opportunities it presents for business and technological advancement.