what is the difference between drivers and pilots? why are cars and truck etc drivers while planes and ships are pilots
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“Driving” as a term originated from wagoneers who would drive their steers/horses, in the same way that a cowboy “drives” cattle. As cars moved from being “carriages” to “horseless carriages” to “automobiles”, the name stuck. [edit] (“Steering wheel” originates from the same basic concept, incidentally.)
“Pilot” can be thought of as a more generic term for “someone who operates a machine in order to cause it to move in a desired direction”, and it actually does come up in technical lingo from time to time (the part of the car where the driver sits is also often called the “cabin”, just like the space inside aircraft). In other words, most drivers are also pilots of their automobiles, although I imagine most people would laugh at anyone who actually insisted they were a pilot for driving a car.
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