For over a century, learning to drive has been a critical life skill. But what happens when cars start to drive themselves? The advent of autonomous ride-hailing cars has marked a major milestone in the driving and licensing industry. As robotaxis start emerging in cities from Wuhan to Dubai and partnerships between tech giants and public transport authorities grow, driver training as we know it is facing a major shift. The question isn’t whether people will still need to learn to drive anymore. It’s what they will need to learn, and who will teach them.
Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are no longer confined to tech expos or closed test tracks. They’re operating in real cities, serving real passengers, and reshaping how the world thinks about urban mobility. From China to the UAE, and soon to Europe, AVs are becoming a core part of transportation systems, not just experiments but policy-backed strategies.
China’s Baidu has emerged as a global leader in robotaxi deployment through its Apollo Go service, now one of the largest in the world. While it started in select Chinese cities, Baidu is actively extending its reach. Talks are underway with Switzerland’s national bus operator, PostAuto, to pilot autonomous services by the end of the year. If realized, this partnership could make Switzerland the first European country to formalize AV integration into public transit, with wider effects across the continent in regulation and training.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, Dubai is quickly becoming a testing ground for global AV technology. Cruise, backed by General Motors, is preparing to launch its robotaxi service in the Jumeirah district, using its futuristic Cruise Origin vehicles. Alongside this, Chinese AV company WeRide has partnered with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and Uber to introduce AVs into the city’s mobility ecosystem. Trials will begin with safety drivers, with full autonomy targeted by 2026.
What sets Dubai apart is not just its adoption of AVs but its commitment to long-term transformation. Through its Smart Self-Driving Transport Strategy, the city aims to convert 25% of all transportation trips to autonomous modes by 2030, placing it among the world’s most ambitious adopters of AV technology.
This shift is prompting cities to rethink infrastructure, not only in terms of roads and pickup zones but in workforce planning. Countries like the UAE and Singapore are developing new frameworks for AV operation roles such as remote vehicle monitors, fleet supervisors, and autonomous safety operators.
In Singapore, existing bus drivers are already being retrained to operate automated buses. Dubai is expected to follow a similar path, with demand growing for professionals certified in AV oversight, a field that doesn’t yet exist in most licensing structures. The result: a new category of transport jobs, requiring specialized training and regulation.
Autonomous vehicles are now active in cities from Wuhan to San Francisco. With Switzerland and Dubai preparing to join the club, AVs are rapidly becoming part of the global transit fabric. Public transportation agencies are evolving their roles, and cities are embedding AV-friendly policies into long-term urban planning.
This isn’t a trend, it’s a shift in the way cities move.
As countries begin formalizing AV use at scale, one crucial question remains: Are driver training and licensing systems keeping up? Traditional driving schools, exam structures, and certification processes are built around human operation. The future, however, demands credentials for AV support roles, new safety protocols, and upskilled workers who can bridge the gap between machine intelligence and human oversight.
Autonomous vehicles are here. The technology is ready. The roads are being prepared. Now, it’s time for the human systems to catch up.
The arrival of autonomous vehicles has sparked widespread speculation: Will people stop learning how to drive? But the reality is far more nuanced.
Despite the name, many autonomous vehicles are not entirely “driverless.” Most deployments still require human safety drivers, professionals trained to monitor the AV and intervene when needed. Even the vehicles that are expected to operate without a driver still rely on remote monitors who can take control in case of emergencies.
Full autonomy for vehicles in especially complex urban or mixed-traffic environments, such as India’s, is still a work in progress. Factors such as weather variability, unpredictable pedestrian behavior, and legacy infrastructure all slow down mass adoption, most requiring safety officers. So while AVs are expanding fast, the road to full autonomy remains long.
Beyond urban centers, millions of people will continue to drive in rural areas where AV infrastructure may never reach. Such areas, with their conditions, may not be feasible for AVs, and as such, open the way for manual drivers. Commercial drivers will still be needed for last-mile delivery, construction, and emergency services. AVs also might create new categories of jobs like fleet monitors, teleoperation specialists, and AV deployment technicians, all of which require training, licensing, and skill development.
Hence, it's safe to say driving isn’t going extinct. It’s just changing shape.
As AVs gain traction, traditional driving schools face an existential dilemma: hold on to old models, or evolve to meet a new era of mobility.
Urban centers, where AVs are being deployed first, might see a decline in driver’s license applications over the next decade. If robotaxis become the norm for commuting and short-distance travel, young adults may not feel the urgency to learn how to drive.
But this decline won’t be uniform. Demand for training in commercial driving, remote operations, and safety oversight roles may actually rise. The need for skilled professionals who understand both human driving and autonomous systems will only grow.
Tomorrow’s drivers will be part-operator, part-technician, part-communicator. Some of the emerging skills likely to gain prominence include:
Safety driver training, with a focus on AV intervention protocols
Foundational understanding of how autonomous systems work
Communication in human-machine interaction scenarios (e.g., guiding passengers in a robotaxi or troubleshooting AV behavior)
Driving schools that stick to parallel parking and traffic signals may soon find themselves outdated.
The transformation of mobility requires more than just adding a chapter on AV operations to a traditional driver training textbook. It demands a rethinking of the entire learning experience.
Modern driving curricula can incorporate modules such as:
Understanding AV behavior: how autonomous vehicles interpret road signs, lanes, and pedestrians
Sharing roads with AVs: safe interaction protocols for human drivers and cyclists
Cybersecurity and data awareness in smart mobility environments
As AVs integrate into mixed-traffic systems, human drivers will need to learn to understand and anticipate machine logic. This is not just a tech skill; it’s a safety precaution.
As the transportation story evolves, driving institutes are required to keep up with the current updates, in order not to be outdated. Driver training centers of the future should ideally offer:
AV Safety Driver Certification
Introduction to Autonomous Fleet Management
Mobility Operator Basics
These programs could be designed in collaboration with tech companies, regulatory authorities, and transport agencies to ensure standardization and relevance.
The opportunity for transformation isn’t just about survival; it’s about leadership. Driving schools that move first will define how tomorrow’s mobility workforce is trained. But to lead in an AV-powered world, updating the syllabus won’t be enough. They need intelligent infrastructure.
As autonomous vehicles (AVs) move from testing grounds to everyday roads, driving schools must evolve into something much more than license providers. They must become training grounds for a new kind of mobility workforce; one that understands not just driving, but also human-machine interaction, teleoperation, and data-informed decision-making.
This transition requires more than just updated syllabi. Traditional processes are too fragmented and manual to keep pace with emerging mobility needs. This is where technology-driven IT platforms become crucial. Companies with experience in driver education are already building centralized systems that serve as the digital backbone for AV training. These platforms offer dynamic curriculum management, enabling institutions to update and distribute AV-focused content across multiple branches so that when safety protocols or regulations shift, all instructors and students stay aligned in real time.
Beyond content, these platforms power operations. Automated scheduling systems coordinate complex training streams, balancing vehicle time, simulator slots, and instructor availability. This flexibility becomes essential as students train for specialized roles in fleet teleoperation, remote safety oversight, or EV infrastructure management.
The integration of simulators and VR environments, when linked to a centralized platform, allows performance data from these tools to feed directly into individual learner dashboards. Instructors gain deep insight into AV-specific learning curves and can personalize feedback with far greater precision. Every quiz score, road test, or simulation attempt builds a detailed performance profile that supports evidence-based training.
Such systems also support digital credentialing, enabling institutes to issue verifiable micro-certifications aligned with emerging job roles. From compliance reporting to long-term tracking of learner progress, the shift to data-driven systems fosters transparency and trust across students, employers, and regulators alike.
With the right digital infrastructure in place, driving schools can lead, not just adapt to, the autonomous mobility era. They can expand beyond traditional instruction to become full-fledged mobility academies, powering a smarter, safer, and more connected future of transport.
The rise of self-driving cars doesn’t translate to the end of driver education. Instead, it signals the start of a new era for it. One where the human role in transport is augmented, not erased.
Driving schools that evolve today won’t just survive tomorrow. They’ll become foundational to a smarter, safer, and more adaptive mobility system. And there’s no better time to shift from teaching people how to control vehicles to preparing them for a world where they must coexist with AV, sometimes behind the wheel, and sometimes beside it.
