A mobile driving licence (also mobile driver's license or mDL) is a mobile app that replaces a physical driver's license. An International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard for the mobile driving licence (ISO/IEC 18013-5) was approved on August 18, 2021 and published on 30 September 2021.[1]
The first instance of an electronic driver's license was deployed in Mexico as early as 2007, using the Gemalto smart-card platform. In 2016, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) partnered with Gemalto to pilot the "digital driver's license" in Washington D.C., Idaho, Colorado, Maryland and Wyoming.[2]
Colorado was the first state to deploy a production version of a digital license, primarily based on QR codes stored in a digital wallet, which it claims is accepted by police officers throughout the state.[3] After going through the standard process at the state Department of Motor Vehicles, volunteers installed the "DigiDL" app on their phones and then downloaded the license. Volunteers tested the digital driver's license in stores, the Colorado Lottery claim center, and an art fair.[4]
On 1 October 2019, Norway became the first country in Europe to introduce a digital driver's license. A holder of a Norwegian driver's license can request a digital version of their physical driver's license after downloading the app Førerkort from their preferred app marketplace. The applicant must verify their identity with BankID upon logging in on the app for the first time, which will then retrieve information from the national database for driving licenses. After this procedure, the digital driver's license will display the exact same information as on the physical driver's license. The app only allows one phone with a digital driver's license per user.
If the holder has recently passed their driving exam or upgraded to a new category, and hence awaiting to receive their physical driving license, the app will display a temporary driving permit. When the physical driver's license has been produced, the app is able to display the holder's digital driver's license, regardless if the holder has received their physical driving license by mail yet or not. If a holder's driver's license has been revoked or suspended, this will information will be displayed in the app as long as the holder has not gotten their driver's license back.
Upon a traffic stop by the police or coming in contact with the Public Roads Administration, the digital driver's license is valid as a proof of identification. Although the driver's license comes with a barcode, which can be scanned by either government authorities, commercial establishments or even private persons to verify the details, it is not considered as a proof of identification in most places. The digital driver's license is not valid outside of Norway.[5]
Iceland was the second country in Europe to introduce a digital/mobile driver's licence in July 2020. Icelandic driving licence holders can request a digital version of their licence online by using their electronic ID (Icelandic: rafræn skilríki) and is issued as a .pkpass file loaded into the Wallet app on iPhone or a third-party app on Android. Digital driving licences display the same information as a physical licence, along with a barcode (renewed regularly by the server, acting as verification). Commercial establishments (e.g. for proof of age) can use the island.is app to verify barcodes. The licences are equally valid as official ID, even for voting, however only within Iceland. The implementation does not conform to the ISO/IEC 18013-5 standard.[6] As of August 2022, 60% of driver's licences have been issued in digital/mobile form.[7]
In November 2020, Denmark publicly released a digital/mobile driving licence using a proprietary app implementation using a QR code, also not conforming to the ISO/IEC 18013-5 standard. Similar to Iceland's implementation, it is fully equivalent to physical IDs, however only valid in Denmark.[8]
The first mDL that claims compliance with ISO/IEC 18013-5 is Louisiana's, developed in part by Envoc, a software firm in Baton Rouge, whose president claimed that most drivers under 40 won't go back home if they forget their physical laminated license, "but if they forget their phone, they always turn around."[9] Ontario in 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, announced a "Digital Identity Program," including a mobile driver's license.[10]
Smartphone operating systems are adapting to the new standard. For example, Android's JetPack suite comes with specific support for ISO 18013–5 from version API 24.[11] [12] On September 1, 2021, Apple provided details about its implementation of the standard in iOS 15. Arizona and Georgia became the first two states to announce that IDs were supported. On March 23, 2022, Arizona officially launched their program which includes the first TSA checkpoint to support Apple’s mobile driver’s license, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.[13] [14]
Safety organization Fime has a product to help test an app's conformance with the ISO/IEC 18013-5 standard.[15] The Kantara Initiative created a "Privacy & Identity Protection in Mobile Driving License Ecosystems Discussion Group" to issue a report on the need for conformance specifications around identity and privacy.[16]