It feels like they're using the definition/use case of software licensing and applying it to motor vehicles. As in, "If I have to get a license from you, then you are the owner and I am just the licensee".
Its a bonkers misapplication of the word, but that never stops a Sovcit.
Oh I'm not defending the Sovcit in the slightest. I'm just pointing out that the license still works in the same way as a software license, but the license is for the roads.