Top attributes a mobile driver’s license needs to move beyond pilots
06 December, 2017
category: Digital ID, Government, Transit
Though no state has fully taken the plunge into mobile IDs yet, jurisdictions around the U.S. are working on mobile driver’s license pilots and others are issuing legislation.
“Privacy is obviously a concern,” says Joseph Pearson, North America Sales Vice President for Citizen ID Solutions for HID Global. “It’s really just the practicality of moving things in a political environment through the various cycles. States have a tendency to want to keep up with neighboring states. So if Iowa goes first – and certainly they’re the ones everybody’s looking to them right now – you can imagine other states wanting to quickly follow suit.”
 State of the states for mDL pilots |
Pearson says citizens want to have their ID on their smartphone, and the states are working to deliver. He thinks at least one state could deploy a mobile driver’s license in 2018. But stringent requirements will have to be met before this can become a reality.
Here are Pearson’s top four attributes that a mobile driver’s license must possess to progress from pilot to statewide deployment:
- Offline functionality. Being able to operate with no cloud or access to the Internet will be crucial. Being able to use your mobile driver’s license in any situation, even when you’re not connected to a network.
- Easy to register. It is going to be very important to offer a seamless methodology to register as a mobile driver’s license user. If there are high barriers to entry, mass adoption can’t happen.
- Easy to use anywhere. As is the case with mobile wallets, if a mobile ID can only be used at select locations it will likely fail. Being able to use it anywhere – out of the gate – is going to be really important.
- Multi-use capability. There are new possibilities that should be opened up because now you have a digital credential that you can use to communicate securely about yourself in the way you want, to whom you want. To enable new use cases is going to be really important for people to want to use it.
Read more and hear from Pearson in a podcast titled, State of the states for mobile driver’s license pilots.
