Persona’s selfie biometrics power more real-time ID verification for Dashers

DoorDash is beefing up its identity verification measures, integrating machine learning and selfie biometrics from Persona for ID re-verification of its delivery fleet, which it calls “Dashers.”

A release from the company says the new identity re-verification protocols require select Dashers to re-verify their identity in between dashes, use machine learning to detect potentially inauthentic accounts, and increase the number of real-time biometric identity checks completed in a week.

Persona system successful in weeding out inauthentic Dashers

The move is prompted by what the company says in a release are “meaningful results” from its existing screening and biometric IDV processes, which it adopted in 2023.

“Monthly deactivations of inauthentic accounts have more than doubled compared to last year, with 2024’s deactivations surpassing all of 2023 by July. And each week, we prevent an average of 4,600 attempts by deactivated Dashers who previously violated our verification policies from regaining access.”

“Trust starts with knowing who is using DoorDash,” says Brad Rosenthal, director of Dasher integrity at DoorDash. “People rightly expect us to know who’s at their doorstep or entering their business when they order with us. That’s why we’re further stepping up our efforts to make sure Dashers are who they say they are and crack down on anyone trying to break our rules.”

Becoming a Dasher requires identity verification with a current, valid government ID and the completion of a background check. Since 2023, DoorDash has required identity re-verification when “signs of potential account inauthenticity” trigger alerts. Dashers complete the process using Persona’s 1:1 selfie biometrics system, which matches a selfie to the face on a government ID.

Dashing through the snow, performing identity verification

The new, stronger measures add checks at additional points in the delivery journey, “requiring select Dashers to occasionally complete a real-time identity check during a dash immediately after they complete a delivery.” The idea is to make safeguards “less predictable and even harder to evade.”

“Now, over 150,000 Dashers complete selfie checks every week. If someone can’t or won’t re-verify their identity, they will not be allowed to continue dashing.”

DoorDash has begun rolling the new measures out in San Francisco (where Persona is based), Orlando, Seattle, Los Angeles, Yakima, Denver, Boulder, Sacramento, Atlantic City and Fort Myers, and has plans to take it wider in 2025.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital identity  |  DoorDash  |  identity verification  |  Persona  |  reverification  |  selfie biometrics