Boring and efficient is fine. Boring and inefficient is a grievous sin that makes people hate you forever. See also the DMV/RMV.
Their site was a little ugly, the clerk who assisted me was a touch curt, but overall the worst part of it was my apprehension about going to the DMV.
I know my situation was simple, but I thought that was the big objection to the DMV: simple things are hard. The whole thing was pretty easy.
A week ago I moved and had to register my car in California. I spent, all told, twelve hours waiting in line. I could have gotten an appointment, to be sure...in two weeks.
Also, some AAA offices may be able to register your car with the DMV.
Passports, on the other hand...
Automation of things such as this with current technology makes something as important as vehicle licensing and government-issued identification (along with everything that entails) a very risky and dangerous thing indeed.
Okay, so going to the DMV is boring and even infuriating. But, for now, we must have human beings asking all of the questions, administering all of the tests, looking at every person in the face, double and triple-checking things and so on.
For reasons I don't understand American government systems tend to be very difficult and painful to deal with. This not unique to the US, but in the developed world most other nations have seen improvements since the '70's. The US, not so much.
Getting a driver's license or health card in Canada used to be pretty painful. Today it's very streamlined. You still have to deal with people face-to-face, but the process has been designed to be quick and efficient.
Passport photo authentication is effectively crowdsourced, with a very British requirement that the person authenticating the photo be suitably middle class: https://www.gov.uk/countersigning-passport-applications