Digital driving licences are to be launched within the UK as the federal government seems to be to make use of expertise to “remodel public providers”.
They are going to be accessed on a brand new authorities smartphone app and may very well be accepted as a type of ID when shopping for alcohol, voting, or boarding home flights.
Bodily licences will nonetheless be issued, however ministers consider the voluntary digital choice will “drag authorities into the 2020s,” in response to The Occasions.
A authorities spokesperson informed BBC Information: “This authorities is dedicated to utilizing expertise to make individuals’s lives simpler and remodel public providers.
“Know-how now makes it doable for digital identities to be safer than bodily ones, however we stay clear that they won’t be made necessary.”
The digital licences may very well be used at grocery store self checkouts, The Times said, permitting prospects to confirm their very own age with out ready for a member of employees.
The brand new digital licences shall be launched later this yr, the newspaper reported.
A doable function might enable customers to cover their handle in sure conditions, reminiscent of in bars or retailers.
It was estimated there have been greater than 34 million full driving licence holders in England in 2023, in response to government data.
The digital licences are more likely to be launched as a part of a “pockets” inside a brand new authorities app known as Gov.uk.
The pockets is known to be secured in an identical method to many banking apps, and would solely enable the real proprietor of a licence to entry it.
It is going to use options discovered on many smartphones, reminiscent of biometrics and multifactor authentication, like safety codes.
The federal government is alleged to be contemplating integrating different providers into the app, reminiscent of tax funds and advantages claims.
Different types of identification, reminiscent of nationwide insurance coverage numbers, is also added – however it’s not thought bodily identification shall be changed totally.
The brand new expertise seems to cease in need of being a broad digital ID card – as previously called for by Sir Tony Blair and Lord William Hague.
On the time, the pinnacle of privateness marketing campaign group Huge Brother Watch mentioned such a transfer “can be one of many largest assaults on privateness ever seen within the UK”.
In 2016, the then-boss of the UK’s Driver and Car Licensing Company (DVLA) mentioned digital licences were being developed.
Digital licences are already in use in Australia, Denmark, Iceland and Norway, in addition to some US states.
Within the European Union, each member state is required to introduce at the least one type of digital ID by 2026.
