How do you use WebDriverManager in Selenium and why is it better than manual driver setup?

// Bad — breaks when Chrome updates
System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/drivers/chromedriver.exe");
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

<!-- pom.xml -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>io.github.bonigarcia</groupId>
    <artifactId>webdrivermanager</artifactId>
    <version>5.7.0</version>
</dependency>

// Automatically downloads correct chromedriver for installed Chrome
WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();   // Chrome
WebDriverManager.firefoxdriver().setup();  // Firefox (geckodriver)
WebDriverManager.edgedriver().setup();     // Edge
WebDriverManager.safaridriver().setup();   // Safari
WebDriverManager.operadriver().setup();    // Opera
WebDriverManager.chromiumdriver().setup(); // Chromium

// Force a specific driver version
WebDriverManager.chromedriver().driverVersion("114.0.5735.90").setup();

// Use specific browser version
WebDriverManager.chromedriver().browserVersion("114").setup();

// Use proxy for corporate networks
WebDriverManager.chromedriver()
    .proxy("http://proxy.company.com:8080")
    .setup();

// Cache drivers locally (useful for offline CI environments)
WebDriverManager.chromedriver()
    .cachePath("/opt/selenium-drivers")
    .setup();

public WebDriver initDriver(String browser) {
    return switch (browser.toLowerCase()) {
        case "chrome"   -> { WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
                             yield new ChromeDriver(); }
        case "firefox"  -> { WebDriverManager.firefoxdriver().setup();
                             yield new FirefoxDriver(); }
        case "edge"     -> { WebDriverManager.edgedriver().setup();
                             yield new EdgeDriver(); }
        default         -> throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported: " + browser);
    };
}

// No setup() call needed in Selenium 4.6+
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(); // auto-manages driver