Report: 1/4 of driving licenses issued by 2026 will be for AT cars only

In 2021 only 5% of newly qualified drivers passed with an automatic-only license.

According to a new report, a quarter of driving licenses issued by 2026 will be limited to driving automatic cars only.

The report stated that in 2021, only 5% of newly qualified drivers passed with an automatic-only license. The reports now claim that this number in the last 12 months, could have crept up to as high as 20%. Reports also state that the number might climb further as the decade progresses.

Camilla Benitz, MD of AA Driving School, stated, "As more people become confident with the idea of their driving future being electric, the idea of needing to drive a manual vehicle will feel irrelevant to many. Indeed, we see many are already choosing to not only learn in an automatic, but to learn in an electric vehicle."

Benitz, further added, "We see this trend continuing and the need for manual tuition declining, though manual licences will remain important for some drivers as they will want the option to drive a larger variety of vehicles. Pre-pandemic more females than males took automatic tests, but we are now seeing male numbers increase and expect that trend to continue at a faster pace than before due to more automatic vehicles being available and more people buying EVs and hybrids."

Source: TopGear