The UK Could Soon Use Their Phones As Driving Licenses

When it comes to proving who you are, your digital footprint is often more reliable (and normally with you more of the time) than any form of ID or paperwork you might have. One of the biggest pieces of ID people carry is their driving licenses, proving that they legally drive the tons of metal that flys around the road at high speeds. So why couldn’t we use our phones to hold our driving licenses? The DVLA is looking to answer just that.

The latest reveal comes from a tweet posted by Oliver Morley, the CEO of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), the group responsible for licenses and car registration within the UK. The tweet appears to show a driving license being stored in the iPhones virtual wallet, a system typically used to store your card details for using systems like the contactless payment system.

So here's a little prototype of something we're working on #drivinglicence pic.twitter.com/a5eItrdiNI

— Oliver Morley (@omorley1) May 13, 2016

Answering questions in a subsequent tweet, Morley explains that there are four key parts to the new virtual license. The first being that the project is still in a prototype phase, that means there is no timeline for release (if we ever see a release), secondly that the new virtual license is an add-on, it has not been designed to replace the current credit-card sized driving licenses. Security is a priority for the project, as any form of virtual ID comes with the threat that we will encounter identity fraud or tampering.

1) prototype = no timeline yet
2) not replacement for photocard, an add-on
3) security our priority
4) possible because #nomorecounterpart

— Oliver Morley (@omorley1) May 13, 2016

Could you use your phone for ID or do you lose your phone or damage it more often than you do your wallet or purse?