"So." Patch starts the vehicle, and pauses with her hand resting lightly on the gear shifter. "Do you just not have your license, or do you not know how to drive at all? Has anyone ever taken you out and shown you how it all works?"

Needing a driver could cover all manner of issues, from total ignorance, to a simple lack of confidence. Patch doesn't want to sit here preaching like an ass if he already has the knowledge and just doesn't feel like using it right now. Which would be totally valid. Driving this hulking thing out onto the surface of an alien planet is a legitimate reason to defer.