The UK government has begun testing of a digital driving licence – the highest profile official document so far to be digitised as part of the roll-out of the Gov.uk digital wallet.
The plan for a mobile app-based driving licence was announced in January last year, with the aim of providing it as a digital credential that could also be used for age verification online. At the time, then technology secretary Peter Kyle said the functionality would be available by the end of 2024, but the timeline has since slipped.
In a blog post, the Government Digital Service (GDS) said the digital driving licence would be “rolled out more widely” later this year, “enabling people to store their driving licence on their phone, making it easier and faster to prove who you are and your driving entitlements”.
Testing began in December through a private trial involving staff at GDS and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
“This was the culmination of the team’s efforts in building, stress-testing, designing, iterating, as well as speaking to users, all done through partnership with the DVLA,” said GDS, in the blog post.
The licence will be accessed through a digital wallet – now branded as the Gov.uk One Login app. The first document to be made available as a digital credential in the app was the Veteran Card, launched in a very simplified form in October last year. Since then, more than 15,000 veterans have added the card to their app, according to GDS.
Other government departments are being encouraged to make official documents available as digital credentials through the wallet app, such as passports.
When the digital wallet and driving licence were announced, private sector digital identity providers raised concerns that the app would compete directly with their offerings, especially around age-verification services. Subsequent meetings with government ministers helped to allay those concerns, and GDS has confirmed that the digital driving licence will be opened up to approved third-party digital ID apps as a means of identity verification.
“Unlike physical credentials, the security features of digital credentials aren’t visible to the naked eye. Programmatic checking allows whoever is doing the ID check to access these, with a user’s consent, and make sure everything is as it should be,” said GDS, in the blog post.
“This is where our work with the digital identity sector kicks into gear. The digital verification service (DVS) industry is crucial to enabling programmatic checks. This year, we’ll enable them to test how they will share data from the digital driving licence with third parties, before full roll-out later in the year, so they can play their part in making the digital driving licence useful across the range of services where users currently use their physical licences.”
The digital wallet is one of the main elements of the government’s new “roadmap for modern digital government” published earlier this week.
“It’s our roadmap to make the everyday interactions you have with government simpler, faster and more personal,” said current technology secretary Liz Kendall. “So you can manage your health records, appointments and prescriptions, all in one place. So you can quickly do your taxes, check your car’s MOT status or renew your driving licence online. And, ultimately, to put power and control back in your hands, when you use any government service.”
