SALT LAKE, UT - AUGUST 04: A person scans a QR code on an Apple Watch to temporarily send their digital driver's license to another mobile phone at a Harmons Grocery store on August 4, 2021 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Utah is the first state in the nation to start to convert and offer digital driver licenses on mobile devices. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)
California is always utilizing new technology for its residents when it comes to change to make things easier! According to the LA Times, the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles plans to test a version called a mobile driver’s license or digital ID. The mobile driver’s license serves as an identity-verifying credential stored on your smartphone. While it differs from the Real ID, it gives drivers more control over their personal information.
Last year State lawmakers authorized the DMV to do a trial run with mobile driver’s licenses and ID cards. This gave the department a year to develop a timeline and cost estimate for the pilot project. Now, some of ya’ll may feel like this isn’t needed, but Eric Jorgensen, Director of Arizona’s Motor Vehicle Division, feels otherwise! In a recent interview, he explained the mobile license’s goal is to improve security, privacy, and convenience. “It’s not about balancing one against the other,” he said. “It’s an attempt to make all three of those better.”
Other states, including Louisiana, Colorado, and Arizona, have already rolled out their mobile licenses. Reports show that Utah is also testing the feature. What’s exciting about Louisiana and Colorado adapting the mobile license are the applications created.
Colorado’s app, ‘Colorado Digital ID,’ is accepted by that state’s agencies and police officers, and Louisiana’s ‘LA Wallet’ app works with government agencies, state liquor stores, and other app users. These applications are backed but the American Assn. of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a trade group of DMV officials from across the country.
The organization has issued guidelines for mobile driver’s licenses built around the ISO standard, which is a document that establishes interface specifications for the implementation of a driving license in association with a mobile device.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is working on ways to verify IDs electronically, using the same standard and following the 2020 law.
Roommates, there is no guaranteed timeframe for the mobile driver’s license to take effect in California. Jeremy Grant, Coordinator of the Better Identity Coalition, says it will take 10 to 15 years for mobile IDs to get to critical mass.
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