Word.ws English Dictionary

self-driving

self-driving adjective: of a motor vehicle: equipped with sensors and computer technology to allow it to drive without a human operator.

self-driving: of a motor vehicle: equipped with sensors and computer technology to allow it to drive without a...
Image: Ogidya, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

self-driving (not comparable)

  1. Of a motor vehicle: equipped with sensors and computer technology to allow it to drive without a human operator.
    • Computer vision is used in image recognition systems and also in self-driving technologies.2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2019
    • Mercedes-Benz has received approval for a self-driving system paving the way for it to be able to offer the technology to customers where national legislation allows its use.2021 December 9, Gareth Roberts, “Mercedes-Benz self-driving car technology approved for use”, in FleetNews

Noun

self-driving (uncountable)

  1. The ability of a motor vehicle to drive itself without a human operator; the technology that enables this.
    • Self-driving will re-arrange the economic landscape of the world, like the invention of the automobile did.2017 August 25, Yarrow Bouchard, “Self-Driving: The Companies That Will Win (And Lose)”, in Seeking Alpha, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2022
    • China’s approach to self-driving reflects its attitude to development more broadly: heavy on infrastructure and government oversight, lighter on cutting-edge technology and civil liberties.2019 October 12, “Chinese firms are taking a different route to driverless cars”, in The Economist, archived from the original on 28 Dec 2022

Origin of self-driving

From self- + driving.

Words formed from self-driving

Phrases with self-driving

Questions about self-driving

What does self-driving mean?
Self-driving means of a motor vehicle: equipped with sensors and computer technology to allow it to drive without a human operator.
What part of speech is self-driving?
Self-driving can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near self-driving in the dictionary

  1. self-drive
  2. self-driven
  3. self-driver
  4. self-drivers
  5. self-drives
  6. self-driving
  7. self-driving car
  8. self-driving cars
  9. self-driving taxi
  10. self-driving taxis
  11. self-driving truck

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: self-driving (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “self-driving.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/self-driving. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.