The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has partnered with biometric identity company AuthenticID to fortify its mobile driver’s license (mDL) program.
California rolled out its mDLs pilot program last year to 1.5 million participants and expanded the capability to all residents in August by offering IDs in Apple and Google wallets. The state’s new partnership with AuthenticID will enable Californians to “easily and privately confirm their identity in seconds” using face matching and liveness detection. Liveness detection analyzes data from biometric sensors, looking for subtle movements like blinking or head shifts to verify that the person is real.
AuthenticID is a company offering artificial intelligence-driven identity proofing and fraud detection solutions based outside of Seattle.
“We’re proud to partner with the State of California’s DMV to ensure users can safely and securely verify their identities,” said Reed Taussig, the chief executive officer (CEO) of AuthenticID in the company’s announcement. “Our ongoing innovation delivers our customers the highest levels of security, privacy, and customer experience so that users can verify their identities effortlessly with the devices and technology they trust.”
While the use of mDLs is still relatively new, 13 states including California have adopted mDL programs, 17 have made mDLs legal, and several others are in the process of adopting legislation to adopt similar programs. Five states including Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, and Ohio support mDL integration with Apple Wallet.
Participating airports and select convenience and retail stores across the country currently accept California mDLs.
“We’re proud to partner with the State of California’s DMV to ensure users can safely and securely verify their identities,” said Reed Taussig, CEO of AuthenticID. “Our ongoing innovation delivers our customers the highest levels of security, privacy, and customer experience so that users can verify their identities effortlessly with the devices and technology they trust.”
The announcement follows other pushes by the state’s DMV to transition to more online-based platforms. In May, the DMV announced that it would be improving its customer service experience by housing the entirety of an individual’s driver’s license and vehicle-related information in a single online location. In June, the DMV cut wait times for DMV customers by enabling transactions to occur online and at DMV self-serve kiosks.
“The California DMV Wallet will continue to add public and private sector services to make Californian digital lives easier with an innovative, inclusive, and privacy-preserving digital credential,” said Ajay Gupta, the chief digital transformation officer at the California DMV.
