Digital future for the driving licence?

12.00 | 17 May 2016 |

Plans for a new digital driving licence have been revealed in a tweet by Oliver Morley, chief executive of the DVLA.

Taking to the social media platform on Friday (13 May), he unveiled a ‘prototype’ of the new licence, which according to Auto Express would operate within Apple’s Wallet app for iPhone.

Only last week, the Government published a report into the future of its motoring services, which confirmed the DVLA will ‘drive the development of apps’ to allow a driver to access the data held by the agencies.

The move has been met with cautious optimism by the RAC. The motoring organisation says that while digital licencing makes ‘practical sense’, the security of drivers’ identities must be at the top of the DVLA’s commitments.

In a separate tweet, Oliver Morley added that security is the priority and that the digital licence would be an ‘add-on’ and not a replacement to the plastic photo card.

While digital hacking will be a concern, the RAC says the technology could help tackle identity fraud by making it harder for documents to be stolen.

The move would also enable the DVLA to issue new driving licences instantly, meaning motorists would not have to wait for them to arrive in the post.

Using the hashtag #nomorecounterpart, Mr Morley suggested that scrapping the paper part of the licence in June 2015 meant this new project was now possible. He also confirmed that there is currently no timeline on when a digital licence might be available.

The Wallet app already stores boarding passes and credit, debit, gift and discount cards. Payment information is encrypted and authorised with the user’s fingerprint or passcode.

Photo: @Omorley1 via Twitter

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