Best way to replace a physical drivers license with a smartphone app?

by philg

Now that Samsung Pay is here I could theoretically leave the house with nothing more than a Galaxy S7 phone (okay, and maybe a 50 amp-hour 12V car battery for reserve power). Anywhere that a credit card can be swiped I can pay using one of the cards stored in my phone (the merchant doesn’t need the special Apple Pay hardware).

I could unlock and drive my Tesla using the phone as well (just need a spare $100,000 to replace the Honda Odyssey with a Tesla…).

But what about the drivers license that we are all required to carry? In Iowa apparently a phone app can substitute, but presumably not in most states nor with the TSA at airports.

Given the limitations of government with respect to IT (e.g., spending $1.4 million on the simplest iPad app conceivable), and with an eye toward having any substitute system be at least as secure and authentic as the current one, what would be the right way to implement this?

4 thoughts on “Best way to replace a physical drivers license with a smartphone app?”

  1. So you want a system where if a cop pulls you over you have to unlock your smartphone and give it to him to take back to his cruiser? Sure, what could go wrong?

  3. I have an idea for a driver’s license “app” that would require no coding, that needs no batteries, that would withstand falling into water, being stepped on, etc., and that is not subject to being hacked. For this “app” you would print the name, date of birth, driver’s license #, etc. of the driver, together with a small photograph, on a small laminated plastic card that you would carry with you when you were driving. There could even be a bar code and/or magnetic stripe on the back of the card containing this same information in machine readable form. If requested by the police, you would hand them this card. This same card could serve as identification at banks, airports, etc. I know that this would not be as exciting as a real live phone app, but I believe that it has certain advantages. I’m surprised that no one thought of it up until now.

  4. > Given the limitations of government with respect to IT (e.g., spending $1.4 million on the simplest iPad app conceivable), and with an eye toward having any substitute system be at least as secure and authentic as the current one, what would be the right way to implement this?

    Driver’s license is simply a way to carry a temporary cache of data in th database. It was historically hard to access this database quickly, so instead the solution was to make documents unforgeable.

    Now, hovever, we can allow people to carry a simple paper sheet instead:

    – you request the license in person
    – you get a few printouts, in the A4 and card size at home address
    – you put a separate printout into every car that you regularly drive
    – and fell free to put a card-sized one in the wallet

    Driver license forgery will be trivial, but will still carry criminal penalties, so basically the same criminals (and teens) who now are willing to procure forged documents will be willing to risk that.

    In all cases where a real identification is required, the police should pull the data from the database themselves.

    Of course, this kind of driver’s license will essentially be only a driver’s license, so private businesses who are currently asking for a photo ID will have to adapt. Perhaps by working with the government on some kind of verification access (more convenience), or by changing the bussiness practices so that the government-issued ID is not required (more privacy).

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