Pennsylvania is joining the digital ID movement! The way we use our driver’s license and ID documents is changing very fast in the U.S. For most part of the year, the focus was on the need to get documents certified with the REAL-ID. However, there’s another transformation happening at the same time: digital IDs.

Now, Pennsylvania is one more state that’s part of the group looking to modernize their residents’ experience with a mobile version of their driving license. So, let’s find out more about this change.

REAL-ID context

On May 7 of this year something important happened in the U.S.: The federal government finally made it compulsory that every ID document was REAL-ID certified. Even though this program was conceived in 2005, the real implementation lasted almost 2 decades because: many states opposed it, there was a need for infrastructure upgrades at MDVs, and a lot of citizens also needed updated IDs.

According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) itself, this rule set minimum safety standards for issuing and producing licenses and prohibits federal agencies from accepting non-compliance ID documents. So, physical and digital versions won’t be accepted anymore.

At the same time, drivers have also had to deal with new traffic rules: modifications in speed limits, higher fines, the possibility of going to jail for certain offenses, and prohibitions like holding the phone while driving to reduce distractions.

Pennsylvania joining the digital license

Among these updates, Pennsylvania has presented a proposition that puts the state at the forefront of modernization. Senate Bill 861, currently in consideration, aims to allow residents to use a digital identification on their mobile phones. But this doesn’t mean it will substitute the physical document.

Philadelphia Democrat Ed Neilson, who is leading the bill, explained that these digital versions are protected by strict safety, privacy, and authentication requirements. What’s more, they will be compatible with third-party apps like Apple Wallet and Google Wallet to ease their usage.

With this initiative, Pennsylvania follows what other states are doing since they already have digital identification programs working, among the states we find: Arizona, Maryland, Colorado, Georgia, Ohio, Hawaii, California, Iowa, New Mexico, Montana, New York, and Louisiana.

A trend growing in the entire country

Even though the public attention was on the REAL-ID, the movement toward mobile phone version licenses advance very constantly and the benefits are clear: users’ comfort and better safety against fraudsters. However, in order for this innovation to work, federal infrastructures have to be ready.

The TSA already announced they are increasing their infrastructure in 250 airports around the country, so that these digital documents could be read. This investment goes hand in hand with a bigger plan to introduce advanced systems of verification of identity.

The goal is to accept the new licenses and integrate biometric and facial recognition in control areas. This way passengers would spend less time waiting in line, reinforce security and create an authentication system adding layers to complicate fraudsters’ intention to access the system.

What this means for drivers

For Pennsylvania drivers the arrival of digital licenses means a double transition. On the one hand, they must make sure the document is REAL-ID certified, which is a crucial condition to travel or do any federal paperwork. On the other hand, they will soon be able to have the mobile phone license version stored securely too on their devices.

So, the current debate in Pennsylvania is not isolated becaus it is part of a national tendency toward digitization of the most important documents of citizens’ daily life, and Pennsylvania is one of the protagonists of this digital transition.