It’s 2030.
The shortage of organ donors is reaching critical level with more people than ever dying while on the transplant waiting list, bizarrely thanks to advances in technology.
Back in 2016, our best source of human organs was road traffic accidents; it’s now hard to imagine so many cars being driven by error-prone and tired people. It was around this time the first cars started to appear with accident avoidance technology, such as Tesla’s now infamous Autopilot. With this technology now mandatory on all new vehicles, the number of RTAs have plummeted and along with it a significant source of organs.
In 2025, the government introduced “assumed consent” – an opt-out donor system rather than the previous opt-in – in an attempt to stem the problem. But with accident rates falling, particularly with the introduction of accident avoidance technology on motorbikes, the problem continues to grow.
It is hoped that advances in 3D printed human organs will significantly alleviate the problem but with mainstream 3D printed organs another 5-10 years away, the problem is set to continue for some time yet.
