Wyoming plots mobile driver’s license launch for 2025

Wyoming is moving towards the issuance of digital ID in the form of an optional mobile driver’s license, but it will take at least a year for the first ones to reach residents’ smartphones.

The work on Wyoming’s mDL traces back to at least 2017, when the state participated in a pilot with Gemalto (now Thales). The pilot involved digital ID verifications at the DMV and simulated traffic stops by the Wyoming Highway Patrol, as well as for air travel, according to a blog post from Thales.

Then in 2020, the state legislature gave the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WyDOT) permission to start using mDLs.

IDScan.net calculated at the time that if 20 to 30 percent of Wyoming residents chose to pay $10 for a digital license, the state would raise $640,000 a year.

A representative from WyDOT tells the Cowboy State Daily that the state needs to upgrade the technology behind its driver’s services system before it can move to a digital driver’s license.

Once it does, the system will support zero knowledge proofs and limited disclosure, officials say.

For interactions with police, handing over a phone to let an officer view an mDL does not grant them the right to search the contents of the phone. But a former state legislator told Cowboy State that the system should include something like a QR code that officers can scan to read the mDL without the driver handing over their phone.

The same effect could be achieved through communications protocols like Apple’s iBeacon, as well as NFC or RFID, but more work on standardizing protocols would be needed. Google launched a beta version of its mDL app at the end of 2022, and Android support for Georgia’s mDL which can be read with NFC or QR code scans late last year.

North Carolina just adopted a law to support its mDL rollout, while Florida just discontinued its mDL pending the development of a new app to updated specifications.

Article Topics

digital ID  |  driver's license  |  identity document  |  mDL (mobile driver's license)  |  mobile app  |  Wyoming