Whether anyone can compel you to take driving lessons comes down to one factor more than any other, and it is not skill. It is age. Most states impose formal education requirements on younger applicants and almost none on adults, which produces the odd result that a nineteen-year-old and a sixteen-year-old face entirely different paths to the same license.
The Teenage Path Is Usually Mandatory
Applicants under a certain age, commonly eighteen, are generally required to complete a state-approved driver education program before they can be licensed. That typically means a set number of classroom or online theory hours plus a set number of behind-the-wheel hours with a certified instructor.
The behind-the-wheel component is the part that cannot be avoided or substituted with parental supervision. Supervised practice hours logged with a parent are a separate requirement stacked on top, not an alternative.
The Adult Path Is Usually Not
An adult applicant in most states can study independently, practice with any appropriately licensed supervising driver, and book a road test without ever paying an instructor. Pass the knowledge test, pass the vision screening, pass the road test, and the license is issued.
Some states impose a shorter permit holding period on adults, or none at all. Others require adults to complete an abbreviated course. The variation here is wide, which is exactly why secondhand information is unreliable.
Can You Take the Road Test Without Any Instruction?
Where lessons are not mandatory, yes. Examiners assess whether you drive safely, not how you learned. Nobody asks for receipts.
Whether that is wise is a separate question. Self-taught drivers and those coached only by family routinely fail on things nobody told them mattered, particularly observation the examiner needs to see and the exact stopping behavior required at a stop sign. These are not skill gaps so much as knowledge gaps about what is being scored.
The Practical Middle Ground
Even where no lessons are required, a small number before the test tends to pay for itself. An instructor identifies the scored habits you have never heard of, usually within one drive.
Requirements change and vary considerably. Confirm what your state actually requires rather than relying on what applied to a sibling, and see whether professional lessons are worth it for the cost reasoning.