This is a time of monumental change for UK driving instructors. They’re in the meantime refocusing their instruction to favor automatic cars over manual ones. This amendment aims to address the growing number of drivers waiting for their driving test. Most importantly, it responds to the changing landscape of the automotive industry. As these reports illustrate, learners like Menelik Calvin are left waiting for months just to secure a test slot. This tragic circumstance underscores the critical need for a better, faster training process.
According to the latest statistics, 81.3% of people who take their driving test in an automatic vehicle pass. For the recently concluded 2022-23 testing period, the pass rate of automatic driving tests was just below 43%. On the other hand, manual tests did quite well, passing 48% of the time. This shift suggests that automatic vehicles are more accessible to an inexperienced driver. This focus hasn’t spared them from experiencing vastly different outcomes as they attempt to pass their own tests.
As of March 2025, almost three-in-four driving test centres across Great Britain are experiencing excessive wait times. Most of these centres have already reached the legal limit of 24 weeks. This new reality has forced professors to rethink how they teach. According to recent futurism surveys, over 50% of all AA and BSM driving instructors plan on teaching in automatic only cars within the next decade. The change has been considerable, signaling a massive shift in the entire industry’s op landscape.
From April 2011 to April 2024 the UK lost more than 6,000 approved driving instructors. This drastic loss points to a larger troubling trend with the driving instruction industry. This drop has happened even as the demand for automatic driving lessons has skyrocketed. In January 2022, a staggering 86% of instructors under AA and BSM were teaching in manual vehicles. This indicates a significant enthusiasm for manual transmission instruction among driver educators. Fast forward to early 2025, and that share has fallen to just 75.3%.
Mark Born, head of the AA and BSM driving instructor academy. He echoed the observation of many that teachers are changing faster than students. “People pass their tests quicker if they’re learning to drive automatic cars, which will help us get through the backlog of people waiting for lessons more quickly – but worsen the problems at the test-centre end of the pipeline,” said Jason Tilley, an industry observer.
Students in automatic vehicles enjoy fewer lesson prerequisites when getting ready for their exams. Learners typically require 25 to 35 hours of instruction to be ready for exams in automatic cars. By comparison, manual learners typically need at least 45 hours on average. This efficiency allows new drivers to concentrate on critical skills such as hazard awareness and road positioning earlier in their training.
While there are many benefits to be gained by the transition to an automatic vehicle fleet, it isn’t without its impediments. Adam Bragg, co-founder of Drive, a driving instructor training company, acknowledged that demand from learners for automatic lessons is slower than anticipated. “The demand from learners is slower than we expected, which is largely down to new drivers being given hand-me-down cars, which are currently predominantly manuals,” he stated.
Today, as the automatic car market continues to grow and take over, we are starting to have different conversations around licensing for people educated in automatic vehicles. “Conversations are already being had around whether those who have learned in an automatic car could do a minimum amount of extra training, or spend time in a simulator, to get a licence that will allow them to use a manual,” Tilley added.
Bragg emphasized a curious trend he has seen with new instructors entering the profession. Today, 36% of them decide to only teach in automatic cars. He underscored the increasing demand for hands-on lessons. Much of this surge is explained by parents handing down manual vehicles to their children. “There will be more people wanting to learn to drive manuals – because those are the cars that their parents are handing down to them – than instructors able to teach them,” he explained.
Transitioning to automatic vehicles meets the needs of the present. It acts as a bellwether for a much larger long-term trend facing the automotive industry. In a decade, manual driving instructors could become an endangered species. The industry is changing quickly, and they may find themselves stuck in a quaint boutique market.