mDLs shift into high gear as legislative roads open up

Mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) could soon be the norm in the United States. Experts predict that by the end of 2025 half the U.S. population will have access to digital credentials and mobile IDs. According to the Secure Technology Alliance, fourteen states, plus Puerto Rico, are already running or in the process of implementing mDL programs. Another fifteen have enacted legislation or study activity. Plastic driver’s licenses are destined for the landfill of history, as governments across the country effect a mass shift toward digital credentials.

AuthenticID providing biometric identity verification for California DMV

AuthenticID’s biometrics and identity verification products are to be integrated into California’s mobile driver’s license program.

A press release says the Seattle-headquartered company has partnered with the state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to enable California residents to verify their identity in seconds and reduce fraudulent enrollments using face matching and liveness detection.

“We’re proud to partner with the State of California’s DMV to ensure users can safely and securely verify their identities,” says Reed Taussig, CEO of AuthenticID. “Our ongoing innovation delivers our customers the highest levels of security, privacy, and customer experience so that users can verify their identities effortlessly with the devices and technology they trust.”

The California DMV, which has its own DMV Wallet to house mDLs along with Apple Wallet and  Google Wallet, has issued over 1.3 million mDLs since launching its program in August 2023.

Credence ID, state highway patrol prototype tool for accepting mDLs

On the other side of the state’s legal highway, Credence ID and the California Highway Patrol have partnered on technology that enables law enforcement to accept mDLs and import data directly into their patrol car tablets.

A post on Credence ID’s LinkedIn page says the technology was developed as part of a California DMV hackathon, and that the setup “allows officers to quickly scan physical driver’s and mobile driver’s Licenses (mDLs) and automatically populate forms, improving safety, efficiency and accuracy in the field.”

Two patents assigned

Credence ID, which is based in Emeryville, California, has had two patents assigned to it, both related to digital identity verification.

Patent 12107957 is for a “Point-of-service digital identity verification device” to scan digital credentials stored on a mobile device, with functionality to send a request to an intermediary credential service platform for verification of the digital credential.

Patent 12013924 is for “Non-repudiable proof of digital identity verification.” It describes “non-repudiable proof of identity maintained in a verification log.” Per the abstract, the verification log can be generated by a digital identity verification platform in response to a request for verification from a relying party. “Anonymized records may be maintained that demonstrate proof of identity verification without providing sensitive details.”

Article Topics

AuthenticID  |  California  |  Credence ID  |  digital ID  |  mDL (mobile driver's license)  |  mobile app  |  Secure Technology Alliance