For much of the 20th century, high school driver’s education was a rite of passage. Students watched safety films in a classroom, practiced in simulators that looked like arcade cabinets, and finished with behind-the-wheel lessons in the school’s practice cars. Many schools have since cut or dropped their programs, and coursework has moved online, to licensed driving schools and, in some states, to parents. Now the drivers ed simulator is returning in a new form: screen and virtual-reality systems, some using artificial intelligence to assess how a learner drives.
The purpose has not changed. Young drivers remain at high risk. In 2024, 2,162 drivers aged 15 to 20 died in crashes, according to NHTSA, and young drivers made up 9 percent of drivers in fatal crashes while holding 5.2 percent of licenses. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that per mile driven, drivers aged 16 to 19 have a fatal crash rate just over three times that of drivers 20 and older, with the highest risk at 16 and 17.
Online driver’s ed
Online driver’s education grew steadily from the early 2000s and expanded quickly after the pandemic. State-approved courses now combine videos, quizzes and progress tracking, and students can work at their own pace and take practice exams like the written permit test. Rules differ by state. Texas, for example, licenses in-person, online and parent-taught driver education. For rural students who live far from a driving school, and for families juggling schedules, online coursework is often the only practical option. Behind-the-wheel hours with a licensed instructor or parent remain required.
What a drivers ed simulator can and cannot do
Simulators let new drivers practice situations that are dangerous or rare on real roads: merging into fast traffic, a pedestrian stepping out between parked cars, a sudden stop in rain. A student can repeat the same hazard until spotting it becomes a habit, and an instructor can review exactly where the student was looking and when they reacted.
AI is starting to change how that practice is assessed. In Norway, researchers at NTNU worked with simulator companies to build an AI “virtual driving instructor”. Tested with 21 learner drivers and 7 instructors across 477 scenarios, it assessed driving on par with human experts. That study measured how well the AI judged driving, not whether students later crashed less, and simulator practice still has to be followed by real driving with an instructor.
Schools and driving programs considering a simulator should ask what it teaches, what evidence the vendor has that the practice carries over to real roads, and how instructors will use the data it produces.
Teaching drivers to work with the AI in their cars
Many new cars come with driver assistance: lane-departure warnings, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control and, in some models, partially automated driving. Today’s new drivers need to learn how these systems help and where they fail. NHTSA is clear that drivers must stay engaged and responsible even when assistance systems are active. Good driver’s education teaches students to treat these features as backup, not as a substitute for attention.
What this means for schools
- Know what families are choosing. Where schools no longer run driver’s education, families pick from online courses and private schools of uneven quality. Counselors can point families to the state’s list of approved providers.
- Look at simulators as a supplement. For schools and career and technical education programs that still teach driving, a simulator can add safe practice on hazards. It does not replace on-road hours.
- Teach the safety basics everywhere. Of the young drivers killed in 2024 whose seat belt use was known, 53 percent were unbelted, and 29 percent had a blood alcohol level of .01 or higher, NHTSA reports. Those lessons belong in health classes and parent meetings as much as in driver’s ed. See NHTSA’s teen driving resources.
- Involve parents. Parents supervise most practice hours. Short guides on what to practice, and on driver-assistance features in the family car, help them coach well.
Driver’s education has moved from school auditoriums to online courses and simulators, but its purpose is the same: preparing young people for the responsibility of driving safely. For the wider picture of AI in schools, see edCircuit’s guide to AI in education.
PattonvilleSD – High school uses simulators for driver education (Play video)
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