Will the autopilot at some point be able to engage the airbags proactively before a crash?

This would require a complete redesign of the airbag system to be feasible. Currently, they are activated by an accelerometer which detects a crash AS IT IS OCCURING. This ignites a solid-propellant inflator that fully pressurizes the bag in about 1/25th of a second. The bag then immediately loses pressure through the many small pinholes designed into it, so as not to trap or smother the person that it's supposed to protect.

This is a violent and often injurious event to endure. The one airbag deployment that I've experienced probably saved me from a serious head collision with the steering wheel, and possibly prevented rib fractures and a couple of broken wrists. It did, however, leave me with a broken nose, blood vessel hemorrhages in both eyes, and a new appreciation of the dangers of drunk drivers in the oncoming lanes.

Proactive airbag inflation before a crash cannot happen before full autonomy is achieved. The deployment leaves the driver effectively blind, stunned, and incapable of operating the vehicle for at least a short period of time. The deflation cycle of the bag will have to be actively controlled, and the programming and sensory input required to do all of this, under the multitude of possible collision scenarios, will be daunting if not impossible.