We can teach cars to drive themselves. So why not take it a step further? What if we taught cars to autonomously teach people how to drive? That’s what a recent GM patent implies.

First caught by Motor1, General Motors filed a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office that describes the “Methods and Systems to Autonomously Train Drivers.” Or in layman’s terms: A self driving car that teaches you how to drive.

The system would use the vehicle’s various systems to track the driver’s control inputs and environmental situation. It would collect world data using Lidar, GPS, and many of the other technologies used in self driving systems to analyze the road. Using this info, it would provide real-time feedback.

GM described the system as a method for reducing costs and improving scheduling for driving classes within the filing. While in theory, an autonomous future would nullify the need to learn how to drive, they explain that some drivers may want to be able to drive for personal satisfaction, as well as situations where human assistance might be needed.

On the surface, this seems somewhat dystopian, replacing teachers with robots. But we can also see why this might be beneficial. We’ve seen plenty of unenthusiastic and otherwise unhelpful driving instructors in our time. If something is going to know ALL of the street laws and knows how to accurately instruct them, a self driving car would be it. In the end, it’ll all come down to how effective it’s “classes” would be.

Like usual, this is only a patent filing. The possibility of it reaching production is always low. So maybe we’ll never find out. But if it does, it’ll be pretty interesting to see.