What are these three options on the kart selection screen?

Looking at this screenshot for reference:

Controls

Source

From left to right they are:

  • Smart Steering
  • Tilt Controls
  • Auto-acceleration

They toggle these options either on or off.

What is smart steering and auto-acceleration? As one source words it:

The two options are pretty self explanatory, but they allow you to either have the game auto steer or leave the gas pedal down. It lowers the skill ceiling for new players by letting them focus more on learning the courses or using items without having to fiddle with anything else. It can definitely automate the experience a bit, but it hardly ruins it for "expert" players.

It looks like for expert players, you may want to disable these. But for people with disabilities such as the source discusses, or if you are a new player, they make the game much more playable.