Uber.
Yes. Uber and public transport. Some of our kids will never choose to live anyplace not offering those options. 
My kids with drivers licenses don’t own cars either. One takes Uber to work every day. Cheaper than parking a car in the city, much less all the other expense involved.
One of our 4 girls can drive stick shift. She used some of her savings to buy a VW Cabriolet so it was me that got to teach her ( not fun at all )
I really hated teaching any of them to drive. My husband taught the youngest how to drive on the highway and now she is driving on 695 and I95 from Baltimore area back to NJ.
@bookworm , I still worry every time and can’t imagine that stopping . My older girls don’t drive much since they live in Boston and neither of them have cars any longer
My 18-year-old also has a DMV-issued ID.
My 20-year-old didn’t get his license until shortly after he turned 18 his senior year of HS. He’d gotten his permit the year before, but had to get it renewed once or twice because he never had time to get his private lessons scheduled. I work from home, so he drove my car to school the rest of his senior year. He had a minor fender-bender on his way to a Saturday night school event about a week after he got his license. We waited until he left for college 9 months later to get it repaired!
I didn’t learn to drive until I was 29 (no car in my family once my brother got married; no money to buy one). My husband, who had a doctorate in education and had been driving for nearly a quarter century by that point, taught me. In spite of his qualifications, I do NOT recommend that!
And while I understand the thinking that everybody should have driver’s license, IMHO (and based on several friends and family members I’ve known), it doesn’t matter if you have a license if you’ve never driven for an extended length of time at some point in your life or you haven’t driven in many years. You will have zero confidence behind the wheel and will be pretty much useless as a driver in an emergency.
I got hit by a car when I as nine; the driver was a 16-year-old boy. I easily could have been killed, and he easily could have had to live with that for the rest of his life. I’m sure that colors my thinking, but I see driving as a HUGE (and very expensive) responsibility for both the teen driver and the parent.
My older sister is 56 and still doesn’t drive. She had her permit when she was sixteen, but she was a TERRIBLE driver. I remember her getting really mad at me for complaining that I didn’t want to ride with her when our older brother took her out on the road. I’ll never forget what she yelled at me: “I can do everything but steer. What is your problem?” 
^^^ steering is highly overrated
My senior got hers about a month ago. She had her temps at 15 1/2 and had a car vs inanimate object moment when trying to park. So she stopped driving for a while. I still get nervous when she drives.
I’m from NY and got my license at 20.
For whatever reasons, my S had no desire to get a license, and we weren’t going to force him to either. When I was growing up, I couldn’t wait to get my license, but I grew up very differently, his world was very different because of his music, and due to the nature of where he was going one of us would have to drive him anyway. He still as a junior doesn’t seem to want his license, he has gone to school in a city that has public transit, and probably feels like right now he doesn’t need that. I would guess that if he ever lives someplace where you need a car, he would then get a license, but he just doesn’t have the passion I and my contemporaries had growing up in the burbs. The car magazines have talked about this, that younger generations just don’t see the car as freedom or whatnot in the numbers we did when growing up.
I have a friend whose daughter didn’t need/want/get a license bc they lived in a great metro area. But when she got married and had a baby then moved to the suburbs-- uh oh. Having kids in the suburbs means driving for most people. She freaked out. Then learned to drive, but it was stressful.
My daughter isn’t a senior yet, but she finished driver’s ed 18 months ago. There is also a car in the garage that is hers for the taking. She needs 50 hours on the road before she can take her driving test, and she has no desire whatsoever to drive for those 50 hours. She’s not a good driver and being in the car with her scares the living daylights out of me, so I’m not nagging her to do the hours, either. I keep hoping my husband will volunteer to drive with her. He’s good at teaching the kids behind the wheel, although even he may find this one a challenge. My other two got their licenses right when they turned 16.
Note: we shouldn’t make assumptions about other people’s kids who don’t drive. It could be because of a seizure disorder (or similar reason) and they may not want to tell everybody about that.
This may be a factor when D2 is deciding on grad schools. She doesn’t want to have to own and maintain a car (and would have a hard time affording one on a grad school stipdend, I think). Guessing that when she is done with grad school she may not have a choice.
S1 is 25 and still doesn’t drive. He happily uses public transit, Uber/Lyft, or pays gas to ride with friends. Driving impinges on his reading time.
S2 got his DL the month before he turned 19. Is now 24, does not have a car, doesn’t want to pay for one. Had zero desire to drive in Boston during college. He’s living at home and we share vehicles, which can be interesting now that we all are working. There is also Metro and local buses.
Both grew up riding public transit and went to college in cities with excellent public transit. They both went to HS magnet programs that were distant from our house, and they were not going to drive on the DC Beltway during morning rush hour! Many of their friends were in the same boat, so taking the bus was somewhat normalized among their friends in those programs.
Both have ADHD/inattentive and that was a consideration in their decisions about whether/when to get a DL. (I was thankful they brought up that topic vs. me.)
I think a lot of the impetus to get a car is regional. My nieces and nephews live in another part of the country and they all got their licenses as soon as they were able. They have all had their own cars since they were 17, even if it was a real stretch for them/their parents to obtain a vehicle. One of my nieces does some pretty serious DIY car repairs!
@Mom2aphysicsgeek, maybe it’s a physics geek thing. My 23 yo daughter’s physics geek BF (also 23) still doesn’t have a license and has no interest in getting one. He mostly takes the bus and of course D (who didn’t get her license until age 18) drives him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is also an aspie (I’m familiar with the ASD profile since my 18 yo daughter is autistic). D has been pushing him to drive and H has offered to teach him. We shall see.
D1 went to college after the ninth grade and had not taken drivers ed. since it is a 10 grade class here. She took it privately when she was in college but never got in enough practice time to feel comfortable taking the test. I finally insisted after she graduated from college but she always used public transportation everywhere she lived. A year ago, at age 29, she finally bought a car and used it to commute to a job. That lasted about a year and she changed jobs and parked the car. She now rides public transportation to work but still uses the car occasionally for errands. My second two children got their licenses in a timely manner and became drivers. I think it’s a life skill that everyone needs.
Anyone ever see the movie “Speed”? We need our future generation to be able to drive the bus.
If driving is ever going to be in their future, there is no time like the present to learn. For those who are timid and fearful, avoidance is not the solution. They need lots of practice. You can find safer environments for student driving; you certainly don’t start out on the highways. The more they drive, the more comfortable they will be doing it. As parents, you also don’t want to be a nervous wreck while they are off in the car. Practice, practice, practice is the key.
…she says it’s not for her. Although she says she’s thinking about lessons now.
(She’s 27 & lives in NYC now - no car needed)
If the kids who are too lazy or too busy or uninterested to get a DL find their own means of transportation – i.e., not relying on mom or dad – more power to them.
Cars aren’t good for the environment. They’re not city-friendly. They’re isolating. They’re expensive.
The less we ALL rely on cars the better. I applaud the kids who don’t buy into this wasteful, costly way of life.
@snoozn They are actually 2 different sons. Our Aspie is 24. Our physics geek is 20. When I joined CC, I really didn’t think I would hang out here much. I really only joined to find out a few things when our physics geek was applying to college. But, then I ended up staying. So my posting name is rather odd b/c it mentions 1 child, but we have 8.
Uber and Lyft and Sidecar aren’t available everywhere nor are buses and trains. My daughters had much need for their driving skills when they were in high school and college. Now that they’re both in New York City, we’ve gotten rid of both their cars (fraternal twin 1993 Buick Le Sabres). I’m glad they know how to drive but think it’s fine they use public transport. My mom is 87. She still drives, including between cities that are not served by public transit (to see my and my siblings).