Do we have any evidence that shows 8 year olds can't drive if given enough practice? I mean as long as they can see and reach the pedal I'd say driving is simple enough that they could do it if there aren't any distractions.
I’ve had an interest in cars for longer than I can remember. Around when I was 8, my father would kindly let me drive the family car around a deserted (private property) car park as a treat. Basic car control was pretty easy to pick up. Avoiding stationary toppled-over trucks on a clear motorway, like the Tesla failed to do, would also be an easily avoidable situation for child driving.
I think the hardest part of driving is learning the psychology of other road users and understanding both the positive and negative consequences of your actions. This requires experience and practice.
There was an incident just a few weeks ago where a 5-year-old in Utah took his parents' SUV for a joyride and managed to make it to the interstate before getting pulled over.
Based on the police footage, he wasn't doing a very good job of maintaining his lane, but he apparently managed to avoid hitting any stationary objects, so... go figure?
Driving lessons pretty much assume an adult can control a car, they're mostly about how to safely and legally drive on shared public roads, and that's where I'd expect an 8 year old to be significantly less capable, without evidence to support it except - if 8 year olds were as capable of dealing with situations as adults are, we'd call them adults.
Special interest groups spent the 1930s-50s hand wringing over young kids driving (which was a pretty rare thing anyway) and got a bunch of laws written so clearly some kids were driving just fine at some point. It wasn't decades later when seat-belts came along and alcohol got taken seriously that the roads got appreciably safer so it's not like they were dangerous enough to have an affect despite being rare.
I'd be interested in whether dogs could be trained. I know they have literally been trained to drive cars but not as far as I'm aware to such a level that you'd let them on the highway. But my impression is that they are better at focusing on the task than humans, when well trained, and maybe would out perform them, given some navigational guidance. Seems like something for a steam punk novel to have.
> I'd be interested in whether dogs could be trained
Trained? Don't think so. I mean, there are dogs riding skateboards, so I believe that, given the proper ergonomic controls, they could learn how to drive a vehicle.
Driving a vehicle safely (as in, not stopping in the middle of a highway to investigate an interesting object) would be a greater challenge.
But as far as navigating a space? Sure, they are amazing at that and far better than anything we can come up with in the near future. Heck, if you hook up an insect brain inputs and outputs, you would have a system that's better than what we currently use.
Forget 8 year olds, my 3.5 year old can drive a tractor through the woods no problem. We obviously only let him steer and have someone else on the throttle, but he can keep it centered, turn around, avoid obstacles, etc just fine. Kids can handle bipedal locomotion just fine, it's not like they don't have the ability to make rapid decisions to avoid obstacles or correct their position. Steering is no different, it just takes some practice and experience to adapt to it. It's the higher functions that children aren't suited to do.
