Christina Spagnoli Assistant Chief Deputy Director | State of California DMV
The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is co-hosting a community hackathon in Sacramento, focusing on increasing the acceptance of mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs). The event brings together 12 teams, comprising over 40 participants from various public sector entities. These teams aim to integrate secure and privacy-focused digital identity solutions into their services.
The proposals presented at the hackathon highlight additional applications for mDLs, which are now accessible through the California DMV Wallet, Apple Wallet, and Google Wallet. Participants include representatives from local, state, national, and international government bodies such as the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), U.S. General Services Administration, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES), California Highway Patrol, City of Los Angeles, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the West Virginia Secretary of State, and Info CDMX from Mexico.
Some government entities have collaborated with private companies to develop use cases that leverage mDLs as a secure identity verification tool. In preparation for the hackathon, participating teams received tools and technical support to demonstrate their proposed use cases effectively. They are encouraged to address aspects like viability, privacy and security measures, user experience considerations, as well as social and environmental impacts in their presentations.
The DMV has partnered with the OpenID Foundation for this day-long event. The mDL pilot program is limited to 1.5 million participants and offers quick identity checks at select airports without needing to hand over a phone or physical license. While it does not replace traditional identification methods entirely yet requires carrying physical cards currently; its acceptance is expected to grow over time.
More than 830 thousand Californians have already adopted mDLs. Interested individuals can access or create a "MyDMV" account on dmv.ca.gov/mdl using their valid California driver’s license or ID card along with smartphone authentication via an app available on both Apple Store & Google Play platforms.
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