Australia to use facial recognition system for driver licence verification

Australia expects the rollout of a facial recognition system by the end of this year which will facilitate verification of documents such as driver’s licences and passports with the help of the Facial Recognition Service (FRS) run by the government.

Proposed in 2017, the National Driver Licence Facial Recognition Solution (NDLFRS) is coming to facilitate access to services through easier ID verification, as well as support efforts against identity fraud and data breaches, itNews reports.

Per the outlet, the state of Western Australia will be the first to make driver’s licence data available for the system, while authorities confirm that discussions are ongoing for others to follow suit.

The NDLFRS was conceived to be a repository of facial images provided by agencies from federal, state and territorial structures as part of the Department of Home Affairs’ Identity Matching Services. Cognitec was involved in the initial stages of the contract, and Futjisu was later contracted and will manage the system until mid-next year. Cognitec is also supplying biometric hardware and software for Australian airports.

After years of back and forth, the legal framework to guide the NDLFRS was eventual put in place in 2024.

The government says the platform supports its efforts of effectively protecting citizens’ biometric data against identity theft which is becoming very rampant in the country.

Ghana to introduce biometric driver’s license next year

In a related story but from a different continent, Ghana’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) says plans are underway for the introduction of biometrics-based transport documents including international driver’s licences and vehicles permits.

GhanaWeb reports quoting the DVLA CEO, Julius Kotey, as saying that the upgrade is intended to address the high rejection rate of Ghanaian international licenses and vehicle permits abroad.

The two documents, according to the government, will be redesigned to hold biometric data and will have security features that align with standards of the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO).

Lebanon resumes license issuance

All those who applied for biometric driver’s licenses in Lebanon were expected to begin collecting them from October 10.

The Traffic Management Organization said in an announcement that the printed licenses will be available for collection in all of its departments and branches around the country, according to LBC International.

Issuance specifically concerns applicants who had completed their transactions by August 14, This is Beirut reports.

The issuance resumes after the process was suspended in 2022 when a racket issuing underserving licenses was busted by the government.

Lebanon contracted Vision Box in 2018 to set up the biometric driver’s license system.

Article Topics

Australia  |  biometrics  |  driver's license  |  facial recognition  |  Ghana  |  Lebanon