diff --git a/doc/reference/drivers/index.rst b/doc/reference/drivers/index.rst
index 017e955582ae..7a25f2cfda74 100644
--- a/doc/reference/drivers/index.rst
+++ b/doc/reference/drivers/index.rst
@@ -173,8 +173,7 @@ of these APIs, and populate an instance of subsystem_api structure:
   };
 
 The driver would then pass ``my_driver_api_funcs`` as the ``api`` argument to
-``DEVICE_AND_API_INIT()``, or manually assign it to ``device->driver_api``
-in the driver init function.
+``DEVICE_AND_API_INIT()``.
 
 .. note::
 
diff --git a/drivers/gpio/gpio_intel_apl.c b/drivers/gpio/gpio_intel_apl.c
index b60f4fce6763..e34776eabef9 100644
--- a/drivers/gpio/gpio_intel_apl.c
+++ b/drivers/gpio/gpio_intel_apl.c
@@ -585,8 +585,6 @@ int gpio_intel_apl_init(struct device *dev)
 	sys_bitfield_clear_bit(cfg->reg_base + REG_MISCCFG,
 			       MISCCFG_IRQ_ROUTE_POS);
 
-	dev->driver_api = &gpio_intel_apl_api;
-
 	return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/drivers/i2c/i2c_dw.c b/drivers/i2c/i2c_dw.c
index 17e20361861b..0a0e8eaf556a 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/i2c_dw.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/i2c_dw.c
@@ -621,7 +621,6 @@ static int i2c_dw_initialize(struct device *dev)
 
 	/* verify that we have a valid DesignWare register first */
 	if (regs->ic_comp_type != I2C_DW_MAGIC_KEY) {
-		dev->driver_api = NULL;
 		LOG_DBG("I2C: DesignWare magic key not found, check base "
 			    "address. Stopping initialization");
 		return -EIO;