Soon, much more Californians will have the opportunity to hold their driver’s license or ID card not only of their pocket or purse, but in addition of their digital wallet.
For state residents, this implies they’ll conveniently show their driver's license and ID of their Apple Wallet and Google Wallet at select online retailers and at TSA security checkpoints at airports, Governor Gavin Newsom announced this week.
“We're trying to scale identities so that they're secure and preserve privacy. And we're making sure people can store them on the same device that almost none of us leave the house without,” said Steve Gordon, director of the California Department of Transportation.
Since this system was launched, greater than 500,000 Californians have installed a mobile driver's license (or mDL in technical jargon) on their cell phones. Possession of the unique, physical driver's license continues to be required.
Currently, the mDL program allows digital driver's licenses and ID cards to be presented at select online retailers and at Los Angeles, San Jose Mineta and San Francisco international airports, but Gordon said digital identification will soon be more widely used.
“We have been told this will soon be the case at all commercial airports in California,” he said.
Gordon expects digital IDs to be an element of “everyday life,” from travel to law enforcement.
“There are countless use cases,” he said, “that the industry is eyeing.”
For more information, see www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/ca-dmv-wallet.
Originally published:
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