Aspects of the disclosed technology provide solutions for autonomous vehicle (AV) data prioritization and in particular, for classifying data stored on an AV based on a prioritization policy. A process of the disclosed technology can include steps for collecting sensor data, wherein the sensor data represents a real-world environment encountered by an autonomous vehicle (AV) and storing the sensor data to a disk drive on the AV. The process can further include steps for receiving, from an autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet center, a prioritization policy, classifying, based on the prioritization policy, the sensor data, and determining if a fill level of the disk drive has exceeded a predetermined threshold. Systems and machine-readable media are also provided.