system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Thomas the Tank Engine] What do the train drivers do, exactly?

Normally, a driver's job is to operate the controls of a train. But Sodor's trains clearly control themselves. They also don't appear to be directly supervised or even advised by the drivers - Sir Topham Hat gives instructions to the trains, not the drivers. And when the trains run off on some childish whim, the drivers say nothing, even if it's a very dangerous situation. Yet the drivers are always present. So what's going on?

My only guess is that it's some kind of a mind meld situation, where the driver surrenders his free will and identity to act as a kind of symbiotic extension of the train's will. But that's super dark, isn't it?
gpt
They feed the engine, do minor mechanical repairs, can pull levers to act on brakes.

Of course as the series goes on they have less and less control. The story is an example of benevolent self modifying AIs slowly taking the reins of control from human hands and moving towards great automation and autonomy.