"drive by" = "drive near"? [closed]

'Drive by' means 'go past'. You might decide the route for your car journey:

We will drive by London on the way to Cornwall.

although it's more idiomatic to say

We will drive to Cornwall via London.


The 'beach' example is more idiomatic:

Let's drive by the beach to take a look at what the surf is like.


In fact drive-by has become an adjective as given by Lexico

drive-by
ADJECTIVE
(of a shooting or other act) carried out from a passing vehicle.

and even a noun

drive-by
NOUN
A shooting carried out from a passing vehicle..