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The National Traffic Secretariat (Senatran) developed the platform to connect licensing candidates, autonomous instructors, and driving schools in a single free digital environment, following the model that broke the exclusivity of the CFCs in December 2025.
The Ministry of Transport announced on April 15, 2026, that the CNH app of Brazil will gain a new feature called New Instructor Journey on April 27. For the first time, licensing candidates will be able to search for autonomous instructors and driving schools by location, talk to professionals directly via WhatsApp, and see reviews left by other students before hiring any lesson. The launch will take place at 10 am, with the presence of Minister George Santoro.
The tool completes the reform initiated in December 2025 by Contran Resolution No. 1.020/25, which eliminated the mandatory presence of driving schools in the CNH process and opened the market for practical lessons to autonomous instructors. Since then, the app has already accumulated 25.6 million users and more than 85,000 professionals in training to act as autonomous instructors, according to Senatran. What was missing was a way for clients and providers to meet.
How does the search for instructor and driving school work within the New Instructor Journey?
After passing the theoretical exam, the candidate enters the CNH app of Brazil and accesses a map with autonomous instructors and registered Driver Training Centers in the region.
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Each professional has their own profile with name, photo, experience, and reviews left by previous students. Contact can be made through the app itself or via WhatsApp, without commission charges.
The platform is free for both the student and the instructor and works as an official marketplace of the federal government. Senatran does not act as a commercial intermediary; it only validates the registration of professionals authorized by the Detran of each state and provides the digital space.
The promise is to increase competition among instructors and reduce the final cost of licensing, which in 2024 reached a national average of R$ 3,215.64.
Why does the app come to complete the reform that began in December 2025?
Contran Resolution No. 1.020/25 reduced the minimum workload of practical lessons for category B from 20 hours to 2 hours. The student can hire more lessons if they wish, but no longer needs to pay for the closed package of driving schools.
The theoretical course has become 100% online and free through the CNH app of Brazil. In practice, the cost of licensing can drop by up to 80% in states that have already implemented the model.
The only remaining obstacle was logistics. Newly accredited independent instructors had no way to promote their work in an organized manner, and students had no way of knowing who was authorized to teach near their homes.
The New Journey of the Instructor solves both sides in the same environment. For a country where more than 20 million people drive without a driver’s license due to inability to pay, according to Senatran, the change is significant.
What could go wrong before the launch on April 27?
The system is already facing integration problems in some states. In Rio Grande do Sul, where the operation of independent instructors was authorized since March 10, 2026, professionals reported failures in the electronic registration of classes.
The CNH app in Brazil still does not fully communicate with the Detran-RS system, and the state agency requested a 180-day period for complete technical adjustment.
Each practical lesson requires facial biometrics of the student and the instructor at the beginning and end, vehicle registration, full audio and video recording, and storage of images for five years for inspection purposes.
Without the integration functioning, the instructor cannot validate the lesson registration in the national system, which may create pending issues for the student when scheduling the practical exam. Other Detrans are still in the data homologation phase.
The New Journey of the Instructor brings Brazil closer to a model where the entire CNH process happens within the mobile phone, from the theoretical course to contact with the person who will give the first driving lesson.
And you, have you obtained your driver’s license at a traditional driving school or are you considering using the new model with an independent instructor? Share in the comments what caught your attention the most about this platform that will debut on April 27.
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