Drivers and Interfaces

Drivers and interfaces are a catch-all term for the multitude of devices available for general purpose transmitting and receiving.
Drivers are dedicated transmitters. They are optimized for driving a particular technology family or communication standard. Driver components simplify the design of a larger system. Because the driver component implements all the relevant protocols and electrical requirements, they no longer have to be provided by the main system. For example, an LED driver component offloads the high current source/sink demands from the CPU/AP GPIOs and onto the driver component.
An interface is an even more generic term than a driver. Just like driver components, interface components simplify the overall system design. Some interface components may contain drivers and receivers (transceivers). Transceivers are versatile components that can be used to implement a communication network and even act as repeaters. Another type of interface component is the expander. In essence, expanders multiplex a single bus with many additional busses downstream. Another type of interface component is the bus terminator. High-speed signals must be terminated with the appropriate impedance to power or ground (or mid-range), and the termination component provides a compact alternative to dozens of discrete resistors and capacitors. There are of course dozens more types of interface components available.