Car and Light Vehicle Technicians: how AI changes this job over time
Our best estimates, shown as ranges and grades - not exact predictions.
Right now, AI can already do about 25% of the day-to-day work in this job, and by 20 years from now that could be around 67%. There are likely to be fewer of these jobs over time - very roughly 60-90% of the 2024 number, 20 years out. Getting your first job here is fairly easy today, and it looks set to get harder. What keeps this job safest is the hands-on work that has to be done in the real world.
What we assume: AI keeps getting cheaper and better; robots arrive more slowly - small effect by ~2031, bigger by ~2036, widespread by the mid-2040s. "Number of jobs" means how many jobs there will be compared with 2024 (100% = the same). "How hard to get in" runs from A (easy) to E (very hard).
How a Car and Light Vehicle Technicians job changes over time
AI can already handle some of the planning, scheduling, and paperwork in this kind of job, and it will take on more of that over time. But the real core of the work - the hands-on, physical side - still needs a person to show up and do it. That part is well protected for now, though the picture gets less clear further out.
AI takes on scheduling, reports, and simple decisions. Employers will expect you to use these tools, and jobs will lean more heavily on the physical, hands-on skills that AI cannot replace.
There will be fewer jobs that are mostly about organising and managing from a desk. The roles that stay are the ones where you have to be there in person, doing skilled work that machines still cannot do well.
Nobody can say with confidence what advanced robotics will be able to do by the 2040s. The physical core of this work is the main unknown - it is protected now, but that is the thing worth watching over the long run.
The honest bottom line: this kind of job is safe for most of the 2030s, especially the physical parts that no software can do. Routine admin and planning will shrink as AI takes over that side. What lasts is the skilled hands-on work - so get good at that, learn to use AI tools to handle the paperwork faster, and keep an eye on how robotics develops in the long run.
How to aim for a Car and Light Vehicle Technicians career
You're looking ahead at this job. By the time you join, AI will already do more of it - so aim for the part that will still need a person.
Sources: exposure dial - Anthropic labour market research (2026), observed real-world AI usage by occupation. Job-security category and forecast - OpenAI, "The AI Jobs Transition Framework" (Richmond, 2026, OpenAI Economic Research), CC BY 4.0, matched to "Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics" (49-3023.00). Scorecard grades and verdicts are CourseMap editorial judgment - we show forecasts as forecasts and own our conclusions.