Driver’s licenses and ID cards from Thales cross 100M issued mark in North America

Thales, one of North America’s leading providers of physical and mobile driver’s licenses, has announced that more than 100 million physical driver’s licenses and ID cards made by the company have been issued in the U.S. and Canada. Since 2007, Thales has supplied driver’s licenses and ID cards to 17 U.S. states and Canadian provinces, the announcement states.

The company lists 12 states among them, including Colorado, where the mobile version of the state’s driver’s license is becoming more accessible.

Colorado’s mDLs can now be stored on Apple Wallet, with Google Wallet support coming soon, state officials expect the adoption of digital IDs to accelerate, reports Route Fifty. The state first piloted the program in 2017 with Thales (then known as Gemalto) and gave users the ability to access digital IDs with the myColorado app in 2019.

Taking advantage of the capabilities and market reach of Apple and Google is part of the state’s strategy for encouraging wide adoption of its mDL.

Thales’ national ID programs allow for the implementation of mDLs for each cardholder. The company credits its seven percent growth in organic sales in the first half of the 2023 fiscal year partly to digital identity and security sales and was certified to the ISO/IEC 18013-5:2021 standard for mDLs at the end of 2022.

“We’re proud to see U.S. residents benefiting from Thales technology through innovative credentials that can be used for daily purposes,” says Thales Identity and Biometrics North America Executive VP Tony Lo Brutto. “This milestone reflects the collaborative efforts of each of our customers and Thales to provide the most secure documents that effectively prevent fraud.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Canada  |  Colorado  |  digital ID  |  driver's license  |  ID card  |  mDL (mobile driver's license)  |  Thales  |  United States