After AT-only licenses, the next step we may need is a “self-driving license.”
Recently, I rented a gasoline-powered car for the first time in a while. It was an automatic model, but because I was unfamiliar with both the vehicle and the driving environment, the experience was far more stressful than I expected. Having become used to driving an EV equipped with autonomous features, I found the act of operating everything manually—with my own judgment and physical input—strangely primitive.
When the gear is shifted to drive, the car starts moving on its own. A handbrake must be engaged separately, and the accelerator must be pressed continuously to keep moving. Every stop requires the brake, every start requires a shift of the foot back to the accelerator, and even the turn signal must be turned off manually. I was reminded that this entire system is designed around the assumption that the human body functions as the car’s control mechanism.
I also found myself confused by actions that used to be second nature—starting the engine, locking and unlocking the door with a key. What once seemed natural now feels unnecessary. There are simply too many steps required before a car can even move. Press a button, pull a lever, step on a pedal, turn a wheel. The process feels less like operating a machine and more like performing a ritual.
From a UX perspective, this reflects a design philosophy stuck between eras. The dashboard is filled with switches and meters whose meanings are not immediately clear. Beyond speed and fuel levels, how much information does a driver actually need? The system relies on human judgment, but in doing so, it also introduces confusion.
When driving shifted from manual to automatic, the clutch became obsolete. People were freed from unnecessary complexity, and driving became accessible to anyone. In the same way, in an age where autonomous driving becomes the norm, pressing pedals or turning a steering wheel will seem like relics of a bygone era. We are moving from a phase where machines adapt to humans to one where humans no longer need to touch the machines at all.
Yet driver licensing systems have not caught up with this change. Until now, a license has certified one’s ability to operate a vehicle. But in the future, what will matter is the ability to interact with the car, to understand its systems, and to intervene safely when needed. It will no longer be about physical control, but about comprehension—of AI behavior, of algorithmic decision-making, and of how to respond when something goes wrong.
When AT-only licenses were introduced, many drivers were skeptical about removing the clutch. But over time, that became the standard, and manual transmissions turned into a niche skill. Likewise, if a “self-driving license” is introduced in the near future, pressing pedals may come to be viewed as a legacy form of driving—something from another era.
The evolution of driving technology is, at its core, the gradual separation of humans from machines. A self-driving license would not be a qualification to control a vehicle, but a literacy certificate for coexisting with technology. It would mark the shift from moving the car to moving with the car. Such a change in licensing might define how transportation itself evolves in the next generation.