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Digital driving licences are to be introduced in the UK as the government looks to use technology to “transform public services”.<\/p>\n
They will be accessed on a new government smartphone app and could be accepted as a form of ID when buying alcohol, voting, or boarding domestic flights.<\/p>\n
Physical licences will still be issued, but ministers believe the voluntary digital option will “drag government into the 2020s,” according to The Times.<\/p>\n
A government spokesperson told BBC News: “This government is committed to using technology to make people’s lives easier and transform public services.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
“Technology now makes it possible for digital identities to be more secure than physical ones, but we remain clear that they will not be made mandatory.”<\/p>\n
The virtual licences could be used at supermarket self checkouts, the Times said,<\/a> allowing customers to verify their own age without waiting for a member of staff.<\/p>\n The new digital licences will be introduced later this year, the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n A possible feature could allow users to hide their address in certain situations, such as in bars or shops.<\/p>\n There were more than 50 million driving licence holders in the UK in 2023, according to government data.<\/a><\/p>\n The digital licences are likely to be launched as part of a “wallet” within a new government app called Gov.uk.<\/p>\n The wallet is understood to be secured in a similar way to many banking apps, and would only allow the genuine owner of a licence to access it.<\/p>\n It will use features found on many smartphones, such as biometrics and multifactor authentication, like security codes.<\/p>\n The government is said to be considering integrating other services into the app, such as tax payments and benefits claims.<\/p>\n Other forms of identification, such as national insurance numbers, could also be added – but it is not thought physical identification will be replaced entirely.<\/p>\n The new technology appears to stop short of being a broad digital ID card \u2013 as previously called for by Sir Tony Blair and Lord William Hague.<\/a><\/p>\n At the time, the head of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch said such a move “would be one of the biggest assaults on privacy ever seen in the UK”.<\/p>\n In 2016, the then-boss of the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) said digital licences were being developed.<\/a><\/p>\n Virtual licences are already in use in Australia, Denmark, Iceland and Norway, as well as some US states.<\/p>\n In the European Union, every member state is required to introduce at least one form of digital ID by 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n