DXF was integral in importing things from freecad for outlines, designs, and in some cases even silkscreens.
Also, beginners shouldn't even autoroute. I can't think of a single valid reason to support it, honestly. The algorithms and compute power needed to actually autoroute something useful beyond trivial things is years away, perhaps decades or more.
My experience with PADS/Mentor "blaze router" and "Specctra" (now Allegro PCB router) was very good. Altium on the other hand... no (I mention Altium because I think most people's bad experience is coming from this).
Specctra and blaze worked fine in 1998-era PC hardware. I used them for high speed designs (even then we had ECL and PECL).
Also, beginners shouldn't even autoroute. I can't think of a single valid reason to support it, honestly. The algorithms and compute power needed to actually autoroute something useful beyond trivial things is years away, perhaps decades or more.