For me, some combination of learning to drive, getting licensed, and getting a car, felt like a rite of passage. I grew up in rural America where the closest house was not visible and the closest store was miles away. Someone without access to driving is very much not a full participant in typical society in this scenario. The passage is into full participation (of a kind).
But I certainly know teens today for whom the distinction seems much less important.
By the way, I never saw any of those birthdays as rites of passage. Marriage, employment and economic independence, living alone, and to a lesser extent home ownership each seemed more of a rite of passage than any birthday. Even the rite of passage for legal drinking age didn’t seem so significant because there were different ages for different states and different kinds of alcohol, IDs had no photos, and enforcements seemed lax compared to today.
In many cultures, simply turning a certain age and going through a ceremony is a “rite of passage.” How in the heck is learning to drive a car any easier that those rites of passage?
I’ve never heard of difficulty being a necessary element for a rite of passage. In fact, that seems counter to the idea. A rite of passage is something everyone or nearly everyone goes through to mark a transition in life. If it’s so difficult that a significant number of people can’t do it, then it’s not really a rite of passage anymore. Becoming a doctor, finishing a marathon, writing a best-seller-- those are significant life events that anyone should be proud of, because they are difficult enough that most people don’t manage to do them. But they’re not rites of passage. Learning to drive, registering to vote, getting married-- those are rites of passage, even if not everyone does them, specifically because (not in spite of the fact that) pretty much everyone can do them, and most people do.