Highlighting Biometric Security, NC DMV Head Pushes for Mobile Driver’s License

North Carolina’s Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner, Wayne Goodwin, is orchestrating a push to get the state’s legislature to authorize the development of a mobile driver’s license system. The Commissioner says that his team has been working to inform state legislators about the technology and its advantages in a bid to get legal clearance for the development of such a system.

Speaking to WCNC Charlotte, the Commissioner called the MDL concept a secure way for citizens to hold and selectively share personal data. He also suggested that the DMV would be interested in using biometric authentication if it were to develop such an app for use in the state.

“It’s even more secure than your hard copy because it depends upon facial recognition, so there are several layers of authentication before you use it,” he said.

Biometric tech has been embraced by other state authorities that have explored mobile ID. Mississippi, for example, has a mobile driver’s license solution, developed in collaboration with IDEMIA, that supports fingerprint and facial recognition for user authentication. State authorities felt confident enough in that solution to let citizens use it as official ID in November’s elections.

In Utah, meanwhile, state authorities launched a mobile state ID solution last year, with authorities indicating last summer that they aimed to establish a selfie-based biometric onboarding system for the mobile driver’s license in the next phase of project development.

As for North Carolina, Commissioner Goodwin said that the DMV would need authorization from the state legislature in order to “go about the next steps,” adding that he hoped to see the General Assembly approve such legislation in the current session.

Source: WCNC Charlotte

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(Originally published on Mobile ID World)