Not sure if it is watertight, but the phrase "we drove to xy" is very common even though it is usually just one person that does the driving.

Yes drive can mean "go in a car". It's that simple. Sure, it's humorously ambiguous when you say "I will drive" - but so what?

Humorously ambiguous indeed. I was not amused Joe, not one bit.

She could've said "We will drive to the town with my mother." and that would've made more sense. I've never heard someone else saying this before. The dictionary entry doesn't provide an example sentence for this kind of usage.

@Neeku I've found another dictionary.

it couldn't be more obvious. of course, obviously, drive can mean "we went for a drive". So, the word HAS THAT MEANING. You can not then say: "oh, when I use it a certain way, it does 'not have' that meaning - because it is humorously ambiguous." You can instantly write out 10,000 funny "humorous ambiguous" cases in English. It would be freakish if we then said, oh those words "can't have" that meaning ("..in that case" ..? or something).

note that soon cars will have computer drivers. over time, the ambiguity will go away somewhat. at that time, "i drive to town" will be less "funny". compare "i sail to Greece" -- which is less humorously ambiguous (we accept it does not mean you will be the person manning the tiller, per se) but still somwewhat ambiguous. (Conversely note that very interestingly, more than one person operates a boat: so "we sail to greece" - funnily enough - IS ambiguous like "we drive" is NOT.) consider the BrEng synonym for drive, "I motor to town". again it's still a bit ambiguous/funny, but less so.

@EdwinAshworth Link please?

@Joe Blow Arguing from apparently closely related alternative expressions using different parts of speech is not safe. 'His schemes of work are admirable' vs 'Be careful – I think he schemes'. [See Google Dictionary first-ranked senses of 'scheme'.]

@Neeku I was assuming you were using 'the dictionary' in the way it is most commonly used here, as if there were only the one (the contributor has got hold of). Were you referring to M-W (which hasn't been mentioned by name so far) here? Their definition certainly licenses the 'travel by car' sense. And though ambiguous, it's certainly acceptable, at least in the UK.

@EdwinAshworth I was referring to the dictionary entry the O.P. has provided the link in their post.

Hey Edwin - I don't totally understand what you mean. But - yeah! :) "If you can use word-sense X in an ambiguous way, that does not, of course, mean that word-sense X no longer exists." Hellish could state any ambiguous sentence and then assert than word-sense does not exist.

The mother-daughter team drives into town everyday, what's your problem? :)

@Joe Blow. "we went for a drive" is completely different. 'Drive' is a noun in that sentence. In my question it is a verb.

"We drove to town" "She drove to town" "I drove to town" "They drove to town". It's the same word all four times. or "I will drive to town" "She will drive to town" "We will drive to town" "They will drive to town" It's the same word all four times. It's ambiguous (but so what). Note that if there happened to be a vehicle that needs TWO driving positions (which would be totally unsurprising - for example there are certain fire equipment, construction gear that has this), they "the two brothers will drive to town" is similarly ambiguous (it's unclear if they're in operation or just psngrs)

@Joe Blow: I agree that all those verbs mean the same thing as each other when used as verbs. Not sure why you felt the need to share that. Lots of words can be used as a verb or a noun. Are you saying that in all cases, then, these are interchangeable? enchantedlearning.com/wordlist/nounandverb.shtml . I'm not saying you are wrong to say that, I just want to understand where you are coming from. If I say 'I will fight', can that also mean that I will be on the fringes of a fight/dispute without actively being aggressive?

@Joe Blow: I'm saying that the acceptability of "We went for a drive" is not proof that "I will drive into town with my mother" where the mother is driving is acceptable. Nounal and verbal usages don't always correspond so exactly. I'm trying to think of an example to prove this.

{I don't know what "We went for a drive" is, maybe it was mentioned incidentally.} Final proof: "I will drive into town with my mother" (note - copied/pasted from the OP) "We will drive into town with my mother" "They will drive into town with my mother" "The Smith family will drive into town with my mother" Note that it's just a technical coincidence that at the moment cars happen to require 1x driver. In a few years they will require 0x drivers. Many trucks, etc, require 2x drivers. {And consider, as I said, the identical "sail" situation.}

Please add attributions when linking (eg 'M-W', not 'here'): When you find a useful resource that can help answer a question ... make sure you do all of the following: Provide a link to the original page or answer Quote only the relevant portion Provide the name of the original author [/reference work] ... always give proper credit to the author and site where you found the text, including a direct link to it. [StackExchange Meta]

That's better @Joe Blow. That seems like a good explanation to me. I would accept that answer if it were possible, I will +1 your comment.

@Joe Blow Now you're going back to the particular example. I'm not questioning the 'acceptability' of what OP's girlfriend said (though she could have rephrased so as not to confuse him). I'm questioning 'If we can use the noun N with precisely that sense, we must be able to use the verb most closely connected with N – perhaps (eg, as here, 'drive' + 'drive') an intercategorial polyseme – with the precisely corresponding sense'. B Zawada examines this topic. The various polysemes of 'school' have very different distributions.

Regarding only the OPs question: 'I drive', can also mean I will be in a vehicle that somebody else is actually driving? The answer is unambiguously YES, THAT IS CORRECT. Edwin, do you concur? (After that we'll move on to what you're saying -- which is probably way above my level! :O ) His question is extremely straightforward: To wit: "Can 'I drive' mean I will be in a vehicle that somebody else is commanding/ steering/ operating?"

(1) Yes. (2) The problem is your '... obviously, drive can mean "we went for a drive". So, the word HAS THAT MEANING. You cannot then say: "oh, when I use it a certain way, it does 'not have' that meaning'. Yes you can. A school is, amongst other things, a building. When Sally schools her horse, there may be no building for miles. Different senses of a word (and 'school' will appear under one headword in most dictionaries) may have very different (but of course in some way connected) meanings. 'Going for a drive' does not guarantee 'drive into town with X' can mean 'be driven by ...'.