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While traditional driving schools report a drop of up to 70% in enrollments, the federal government launched on May 6, 2026, the New Instructor Journey on the official app CNH do Brasil. The platform creates a marketplace that connects students to 172.2 thousand instructors registered in the national database.
According to the Ministry of Transport, the initiative reduces the cost of the first driver’s license by up to 80% and expands the digital registration, in real-time, of classes via Renach.
According to the ministry, the launch was conducted by the Minister of Transport George André Palermo Santoro, who took office in April 2026. He was joined by the National Traffic Secretary Adrualdo de Lima Catão, during an event in Brasília.
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According to the official report, the feature went live within the app, which already exceeds 70 million active users, an increase of 75% in 4 months.
In just 4 months of the program, according to Senatran, 4,834,308 first CNH requests were formalized. Additionally, 858,896 licenses were issued between January and April 2026. This is the second-best historical result for a four-month period since the Brazilian Traffic Code came into effect in 1997.
This represents a fourfold increase compared to the same period in 2025.
How the New Instructor Journey reorganizes the market in 13,000 municipalities
The feature operates within the CNH do Brasil app, an evolution of the Digital Traffic License developed by Serpro. Therefore, the candidate can compare driving schools and accredited instructors by GPS geolocation, lesson hour price, available schedules, and previous student evaluations.
According to Agência Brasil, the hiring occurs directly on the platform. Payment is integrated, and the electronic contract is closed with one click. According to Serpro, each practical lesson is registered in real-time in the National Register of Qualified Drivers (Renach), through facial biometrics and continuous GPS verification every 30 seconds.
This way, this flow eliminates the historical obligation, in effect since 1997, to complete the entire process within a single driving school. Now the student can take the theoretical course for free in the app.
Then, they hire only the minimum 2 hours of practical lessons provided in the CONTRAN Resolution 1.020/2025 and schedule the practical exam independently.
On the other hand, the traditional Driver Training Center (CFC) remains valid. It maintains accreditation with the 27 state Detrans. However, it now competes in the same app with 172.2 thousand freelancers. To understand how the digital ecosystem got here, it is worth remembering that the CNH do Brasil app had already reduced the first license from 9 months to 2 months by adopting mandatory facial biometrics.
The numbers that explain the explosion of the New Instructor Journey in 4 months
The pace of adoption surprised Ministry technicians. According to G1, the volume of 4.83 million in 4 months represents a 4x jump compared to 2025, with an average rate of 40,000 new requests per business day.
According to Ministry data, the profile of adoption also changes. Currently, the app has 70 million active users. Additionally, 211,000 candidates are enrolled in Senatran’s official autonomous instructor course.
Another 172.2 thousand professionals have already been registered. In February 2026, there were 10,000 new drivers trained in just 2 months through the digital route. This number multiplied until April.
Technical reveal: the silent integration with Serpro’s gov.br identity
In the background, the New Journey ties together 3 technical layers that the common user does not see. The digital identity gov.br, with 98 million active accounts, serves as a single access credential.
Facial recognition covers all practical lessons in real-time. And pairing with the vehicle is validated by continuous GPS during the 50 minutes of the lesson.
According to Serpro, each lesson generates an inviolable record. The package includes a timestamp, biometric photo of the student-instructor pair, route path, and vehicle identifier.
This automatically goes to Renach, which replaces the mandatory paper lesson book in CFCs since 2002.
In practice, the system closes historical gaps. For example, ghost lessons, outsourced candidates, and fraud in the final exam. These 3 problems have recurrently generated CPIs and suspensions in state Detrans over the past 2 decades, with investigations in at least 12 states since 2010.
Above all, Senatran now has a centralized source of granular data on each student, lesson hour, instructor, and vehicle. According to a formal agreement, the Comptroller General of the Union maintains monitoring of implementation in all 27 Detrans.
How much Brazilians save with the change
The effect on the wallet is direct. According to sector surveys, the average cost of the first CNH ranged from R$ 2,500 to R$ 4,500.
The mandatory 45-hour theoretical course accounted for up to 35% of the bill. Now, the theoretical part is fully available in the app and is free.
The online theoretical courses have already saved Brazilians R$ 1.8 billion in just 5 months, according to the Ministry’s report.
Additionally, the expectation is to lower the price of the practical lesson hour due to competition between freelancers and CFCs.
On an individual scale, the official calculation is that the candidate can obtain the CNH for up to 80% less than they would pay in the old model. The calculation includes the free theoretical part, 2 minimum practical hours, and an independent practical exam.
On the other hand, in rural areas, where there was less than 1 CFC per municipality in 64% of the territory, the gain in supply is even greater.
Human reveal: instructor Carlos Silva leaves the informal sector after 12 years
The human face appears in the autonomous instructors entering the formal market for the first time. These professionals previously gave private lessons informally, without legal recognition, without a specific CNH, and without social security coverage.
Now, they operate within the official app.
To become accredited, the instructor needs to complete Senatran’s free national course, with a 40-hour workload. Then, they validate biometric identity on the gov.br portal. According to the official profile of Secretary Adrualdo de Lima Catão, former president of the Alagoas Detran, the goal is to expand the base without relying on the physical structure of driving schools.
On the other hand, the traditional sector reacts. CFCs reported a drop of up to 70% in enrollments in 21 metropolitan regions. The National Federation of CFCs submitted a formal request for review to Contran in April 2026, citing fixed costs of R$ 12,000/month in property and fleet as structural asymmetry compared to freelancers.
How Brazil compares to Spain’s DGT and Portugal’s IMT
The Brazilian model brings the country closer to already established standards in Europe, but with particularities. In Spain, the Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT) allows candidates to hire lessons with any registered driving school among about 9,300 active schools.
However, there is no official centralized marketplace.
In Portugal, the Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes (IMT) accredits 1,250 centers and requires a minimum of 32 hours of practical lessons, without a public free content offer.
According to sector analysts, neither of the two countries operates a single national app integrating candidate, instructor, and regulator.
Thus, Brazil advances towards a technically centralized model. The State operates the platform directly via Serpro with R$ 380 million in budget until 2027 and a national coverage rate of 100% of the 5,570 municipalities.
Future reveal: phase 2 planned by Senatran for 2027
The next step of the initiative is to open, still in the second half of 2026, the integration with the practical exam scheduling system in all 27 Detrans.
Currently, the student hires an instructor and registers lessons through the app, but the final exam is still scheduled in separate state systems.
According to the CGU-Senatran agreement, the goal is to unify the scheduling still this year. This eliminates the last gap between the federal app and local operation.
Next, there is a proposal to include mandatory recycling of infringing drivers and periodic renewal of CNHs, with a forecast for 2027.
According to Renan Filho, former minister who designed the program in December 2025, the changes “put Brazil in the 21st century once and for all.” The schedule advances on 2 parallel fronts with R$ 380 million planned until 2027.
It is worth remembering the coverage of historical events that helps contextualize the scale.
- Launch: May 6, 2026, CNH do Brasil app
- Active users: 70 million (increase of 75% in 4 months)
- Registered instructors: 172.2 thousand in national database
- Instructor courses: 211 thousand enrolled
- First CNHs Jan-Apr 2026: 4,834,308 requests / 858,896 issued
- Free theoretical savings: R$ 1.8 billion in 5 months
- Cost reduction: up to 80% in the complete process
The points that still depend on regulation
Despite the digital leap, 3 aspects depend on complementary regulation. Integration with exams varies among the 27 states. Additionally, the scheduling speed depends on local capacity.
And the transition from the paper lesson book to biometric registration still involves 12,000 CFCs in adaptation.
The driving school sector, especially small CFCs in 4,286 municipalities with less than 50,000 inhabitants, expressed concern. According to the formal request to Contran, the entity asks for support for the transition and a minimum quota of lessons per student in the autonomous model.
However, the outcome of the negotiation defines the pace of phase 2, scheduled for 2027.
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