More evidence that’s there a serious generational change happening with respect to the use and ownership of individual vehicles – from the New York Times:

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For Some Teenagers, 16 Candles Mean It’s Time to Join Uber

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For generations of American teenagers, obtaining a driver’s license was a rite of passage. But when Jonathan Golden, a scruffy-haired high schooler who lives in Santa Monica, Calif., turned 16 in November, he couldn’t be bothered with the bureaucracy of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Instead, he wanted his own Uber account.

That way, he could do normal teenage things like meeting friends at the mall, going to the movies or coming home from school without having to call his parents. He was also open to the idea of picking up a date in an Uber, though he says he doesn’t have a girlfriend at the moment.

“It’s like you’re being driven around by your parents, but you don’t have to hold a conversation with them,” he said.

While Jonathan may be an early adopter, he said that most of his friends don’t have a license or car, either. Often they share Uber rides, using the app’s built-in fare-splitting feature, for after-school outings and weekend hangouts.

The lack of excitement about driving among teenagers is not unique to Jonathan and his friends, but points to a growing cultural shift.

In recent years, there has been a considerable decline in the percentage of teenagers with a driver’s license, according to Brandon Schoettle, a project manager at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, who has studied the decline with Michael Sivak. In one study, they found that the ranks of 16-year-olds in the United States with a driver’s license had fallen to 28 percent in 2010, from 46 percent in 1983. ...

There are also financial considerations. While AAA estimates that the cost of owning a car has fallen in recent years, maintenance, registration fees, insurance and gas quickly add up to thousands of dollars.

Enter the ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, which are often cheaper and more efficient than owning a car …

But does the gain in traffic safety come at the loss of independence? Yes and no, said Amanda Lenhart, associate director of research at the Pew Research Center, who focuses on teenagers. While teenagers may be less free to move around and explore, she said, the independence that a driver’s license once symbolized has been replaced by the cellphone.

“Young people wouldn’t delay getting their license if they felt that it was critical to them as a talisman for freedom and independence,” Ms. Lenhart said.

All of this may be moot a decade from now, as technology not only upends car culture, but driving itself.

Mr. Golden, who also has a 13-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, said that by the time his youngest turns 16, a driver’s license could be obsolete. “My hope is that before the 7-year-old needs to learn how to drive, cars will be self-driving,” Mr. Golden said.