America First Credit Union has announced the available of a mobile driver’s license for AFCU members in Utah, marking an unusual twist in the state’s broader effort to roll out digital identity credentials.
To be clear, AFCU isn’t issuing the digital driver’s licenses, though you’d be forgiven for getting that impression from an AFCU sponsored post on Good Things Utah. Rather, AFCU has partnered with the Utah Driver License Division (DLD) and is promoting the MDL to its members.
New legislation sent to the Utah State Senate earlier this year cleared the way for the rollout of a mobile ID solution, and the DLD is now “conducting in-person events when new organizations sign on as verifiers” of the digital IDs, as the agency explains on its website.
On that note, AFCU announced that in collaboration with the DLD, it will be hosting two in-person registration events in the near term – one at its Salt Lake Metro Branch on August 19, and another at its Ogden Main Branch on September 8.
Utah was among the first partner states that Apple claimed to be working with last summer when it was developing its own mobile ID solution for the iPhone, which went live in partnership with Arizona authorities in March of this year. Utah, meanwhile, seems to have charted its own course, proceeding with its own MDL that is now being rolled out with select partners.
Nevertheless, DLD has clarified on its website that Apple’s MDL is still “in the initial planning process,” adding that “DLD and Apple will work together to ensure this product meets the needs of UT and its citizens.”
As for its own MDL, the DLD says that the next phase of its project will see it move from in-person registration to a remote enrollment program that “will require a user to scan their physical driver license and take a selfie inside the app.” In other words, Utah’s driver’s license authority is preparing to move to a selfie-based biometric onboarding system for mobile driver’s license registration.
The agency has not offered a timeline for the transition to that next phase of the MDL program, but urges Utah residents to stay tuned to its social media channels for further information.
Sources: Good Things Utah, Utah DLD
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