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According to a grammar book (Advanced English Grammar in Use, Cambridge) we should use "since" as follows:
"We use the present perfect in the time clause with since if the two situations described in the main clause and the time clause extend until the present." E.g. Since I´ve been able to drive, I've felt much more independent.
I wonder, is it correct to use simple present instead of present perfect in that sense? I.e, "Since I am able to drive."
They are both grammatically correct, but they have different meanings. The relevant ones here are:
7. continuously from or counting from the time when:
He has been busy since he came.8. because; inasmuch as:
Since you're already here, you might as well stay.
Your first example has meaning #7
Since I´ve been able to drive, I've felt much more independent.
From the time I started driving until now, I have felt more independent.
But changing the tense changes the meaning to #8
Since I am able to drive, I feel more independent.
Because I can now drive, I feel more independent than I did before.
