End of mandatory driving school triples the demand for CNH in Brazil; see the numbers

Requests for first licenses in Brazil grew 216% in the first nine months of the CNH do Brasil program, according to the Ministry of Transport. The country went from 2.3 million applications in the equivalent period of 2025 to 7.3 million in 2026. More than 2 million drivers have already completed the process and received their license under the new rules.

The jump in demand follows Resolution 1,020/2025 of Contran, published in December last year and gradually applied by Detrans throughout 2026. The rule ended the obligation to attend driving school, transferred the theoretical course to the digital environment and reduced the workload required before the exams, significantly cheapening the process.

Free theoretical course and two hours of practical

class In the previous model, the candidate needed to complete 45 hours of face-to-face theoretical classes and 20 hours of practice registered with the DMV. Now, the theoretical content is offered online and at no cost by the Ministry of Transport, and the mandatory minimum of driving has dropped to two hours, with freedom to hire additional classes.

Candidates are also now able to hire accredited autonomous instructors for practical training. The modality accounted for 553 thousand of the 4.2 million practical courses registered in 2026, equivalent to 13.2% of the total. Driver training centers concentrate the remaining 86.8%.

According to the ministry, the changes generated savings of almost R$ 10 billion for drivers. The government’s calculation considers the drop in the prices of theoretical and practical courses, medical exams and CNH renewal, in addition to the displacements dispensed with by the migration of stages to the digital environment.

The profile of those seeking a license has also changed. Among women, the number of entries in the process grew 18%, from 1.06 million to 1.25 million, an increase of just over 190 thousand. The Northeast recorded the highest indicator of processes initiated, with 54.7%, followed by the North, with 31.9%.

Driving schools contest the new model

The flexibility is contested by the training sector. The National Federation of Driving Schools (Feneauto) estimates that about 100 thousand jobs have been eliminated since the rules came into force, a number that has not been confirmed by surveys by Caged or IBGE, and questions points of the resolution in the Federal Supreme Court. For the entity, the reduction in the workload compromises the quality of training and, in the medium term, road safety.

The Ministry of Transport rebuts the criticism. It states that autonomous instructors are still subject to the Brazilian Traffic Code and Law 12.302/2010, subject to inspection and disaccreditation in case of irregularity. The ministry also maintains that the new design seeks to regularize the approximately 20 million Brazilians who drive without a license, according to Senatran’s estimate.