It's a lot harder to learn how to drive once you move out of your parents' and can't borrow their car (and their presence as a licenced tutor), and in rural areas (I grew up in one too), you need a car to get anywhere.

That said, city dwellers can get by for most of their trips with public transit, bicycle, or on foot, and by the time I have kids and am teaching them to drive I fully expect autonomous cars - the current generation may be the last one that learns how to drive themselves.