DMV Hosts First Community Hackathon to Facilitate Additional Uses for Mobile Driver’s License

Contact: Office of Public Affairs
2415 First Avenue
Sacramento, CA 95818
(916) 657–6437 | dmvpublicaffairs@dmv.ca.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 1, 2024

Sacramento – The California Department of Motor Vehicles today is co-hosting the first of two community hackathons to increase acceptance of California mobile driver’s licenses (mDL). The event is being held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

Today’s daylong event highlights 15 selected teams that include more than 50 participants representing private sector businesses and innovators who propose to add secure and privacy-protecting digital identity into their customer experience.

The teams’ proposals showcase additional uses for the California mobile Driver’s License (CA mDL), now available in the California DMV Wallet, Apple Wallet and Google Wallet.

Organizations participating on teams at the Mountain View event include: US Bank, Square, TBD, Kaiser Permanente, Visa, Fime, Ping Identity, Cisco, Samsung, MATTR, Ultrapass Identity Corp., Walter Labs, Entidad, tan tan, Incode, Treez, CredenceID, Qmatic, Trinsic, Mitek and others that can benefit from leveraging mDLs as a secure, privacy-preserving and cost-effective identity verification tool.

Financial services, retail, entertainment, travel and healthcare industries all stand to benefit from accepting mobile driver’s licenses or identification cards.

Participating teams were provided a suite of tools and technical support in the month leading up to the hackathon so they can demonstrate proposed use cases at the event to a panel of judges. Participants are encouraged to address five main aspects in their use case presentations: viability, privacy and security, user experience, as well as social and environmental impact.

A second hackathon, focusing on the public sector, will be held in Sacramento on November 1. More than 10 use cases will be presented at this event from a range of state, local, federal and international government entities that have applied to attend. The proposals focus on a wide range of government uses and public services.

The DMV is partnering with the OpenID Foundation to offer the day-long hackathons.

About mDL: The mDL pilot is limited to 1.5 million participants. The California DMV Wallet mDL, ID in Apple Wallet and ID in Google Wallet offer quick and secure identity-check at select airports without handing over your phone or your driver’s license. The mDL does not replace a physical driver’s license or state-issued identification card but gives Californians another convenient option for identity verification and more control over how they share their information. Pilot participants still must carry their physical card, though acceptance and uses of the mDL will continue to evolve.

More than 700,000 Californians have mDLs. To get one, access or create your “MyDMV” account at dmv.ca.gov/mdl, have your valid California driver’s license or identification card handy, and use the camera on your smartphone for authentication. Download the app from the Apple Store or Google Play. Information on how to get an ID in Apple Wallet or ID in Google Wallet can also be found on the DMV website at dmv.ca.gov/mdl.

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