Iowa DOT employees testing smartphone licenses

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Some Iowa DOT employees are testing whether Iowa driver's licenses on smartphones could actually work;

The digital licenses will eventually be an alternative to the physical license cards.

Officials said the pilot program involves hundreds of state employees testing their mobile licenses in retail and government settings. The test will provide feedback on how the new digital licenses work during everyday experiences.

"We were very encouraged by the interest generated by our first public announcement of Iowa’s Mobile Identity Application," said Paul Trombino, director of the Iowa Department of Transportation in a news release. "Although we're not yet ready to release the mDL for customer use, the lessons learned in this pilot will demonstrate the use case for our mDL Application to be offered in the future as an option to all citizens across the state, and may help guide other states who want to launch similar digital identity programs. I firmly believe this is an important first step in creating a one person, one identity, one credential opportunity for our customers."

Iowa DOT employees are the first in the nation to use the MorphoTrust mobile driver license software as part of a new pilot test.

I told the Iowa DOT if they do a public beta I'm interested.

[yeoman6987]

1. I love it.

I already show my insurance card by smart phone. This will be awesome. We have so many possibilities with the smart phone but we are so behind in many ways. Pity!

[2naSalit]

2. Screw that

I don't want a "smart phone" or anything like it. If I have to carry one of those damned things around, I'll just go underground. Not interested in carrying one of those around with all that info on it, especially if it becomes a requirement.

[progressoid]

3. You don't have to.

It would just be an option.

[2naSalit]

4. Somehow

I suspect it would/could quickly morph into a requirement.