The California Department of Motor Vehicle is currently in the pilot phase of testing official digital driver’s licenses that function much like a physical license, allowing participants to make age-restricted purchases and board flights at certain airports.
The department clarified to KTLA’s sister station, FOX40 News, certain aspects of the program at the end of July, saying that more than 1,000 people are participating in the program and providing feedback.
A spokesperson said the department will expand the program over the next few weeks before there is a broader rollout.
California’s governor spoke about the program being introduced, and the DMV later released more information about it.
The mobile driver’s licenses, abbreviated mDL, are being accepted at select stores across the state participating in the pilot.
According to the department, digital IDs will allow users to make age-restricted purchases such as alcohol, provided that a business has a standards-compliant digital ID reader.
Currently, there are just six retail locations in the state, five of which are in Sacramento and another in Los Angeles, equipped to handle mDLs.
Additionally, certain checkpoints at the airports in San Jose, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and 26 other airports in the United States, are prepared to accept the new form of I.D.
Currently, the licenses are incompatible with popular digital wallets such as Apple Wallet.
Instead, pilot program participants can only access the digital driver’s license via the official California DMV Wallet app, but the department says it is working to include other providers.