DMV

DMV testing facial recognition technology

The idea of a digital driver's license is getting closer to reality

NBC Universal, Inc.

There soon might be an app to help avoid those long lines at the DMV and it will move your driver's license to your phone.

"When you download the app, it will give you the ability to change your physical driver's license to a digital driver's license," iProov's Ajay Amlani said.

iProov is one of several companies trying to make a digital driver's license a reality in California.

Among other things, it could make those long trips to the DMV a thing of the past.

"You can apply for state benefits. You can register your vehicle, renew your car registration," Amlani said. "Other things that would typically force you to go inside of a government office, now you can do virtually."

And although the plan is to encrypt your digital identity so you can't be tracked, privacy experts said they are watching these developments closely and still have questions.

"So this is now government owned. The use of this data can be questioning, could be very opaque, and then who's actually doing the processing? Who is doing the end using of this data, and how much control does anyone have over their own face?" questioned Privacy Code CEO Michelle Dennedy.

The DMV itself said it is putting the idea through a pilot program and are working with several companies. DMV officials said they are also working with the Department of Homeland Security to keep things safe.

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