Some day soon, drivers in the UK will be able to store their driver’s license on their iPhone, using Apple’s Wallet app. (And the rest of us will gnash our teeth and call them bastards, and wail that we live in a backward nation!)
Apple’s Wallet app on iOS is currently used to store Apple Pay credit cards and debit cards, as well things like boarding passes, tickets, and rewards cards. It appears that the UK government is working with Apple’s Wallet APIs to allow users to store their driver’s license alongside their other cards already in the app.
Oliver Morley, CEO of the UnitedKingdom’s Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) today shared the image of the work in progress on Twitter. In a separate tweet, Morley noted the app is currently only a prototype, and there is no set timeline for releasing the capability. He also mentioned the feature is intended on as an add-on for a photo card, and not a full replacement.
There were recent changes to laws governing UK drivers licenses, which abolished the paper counterpart to the driver’s license photo card. Those changes made a digital counterpart feasible.
The UK isn’t the first government to consider allowing digital driver’s licenses, as 2014 saw Iowa looking into such a program. The state has since then begun a pilot program. The company aiding Iowa in the effort, MorphoTrust USA, said it was in talks with 20 other states. However, that implementation didn’t involve the Wallet app.
