Shortly before the end of the reign of the black-red coalition, an important digitization project began to move. After the ID card, the driver’s license can also be accessed virtually on the smartphone.
In the future, drivers in Germany will be able to create a digital version of their driving license and save it on their smartphone.
As the Federal Ministry of Transport in Berlin announced, this is a first stage. A modern smartphone and an up-to-date identity card with an activated online function are required. First the “Passauer Neue Presse” reported about it.
Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) said that the technology was in place and that it was now going into the applications. “The digital driver’s license has the potential to make everyday drivers much easier.” An elaborate video check of the driver’s license, for example for car sharing or with rental car providers, could become superfluous.
Currently, BMW and Sixt are working on applications for the use of the digital driver’s license, which could be used in the coming months. “At the same time, we are working at EU level to ensure that the digital driver’s license is also recognized as official proof of the driver’s license, for example in police checks,” explained the minister.
“ID Wallet” app required
Drivers with an EU driving license from Germany must first download the ID Wallet app onto their smartphone. In order to transfer the driver’s license to the cell phone, the driver’s license is not required at all, but the modern identity card (“ePerso”). This must be activated for online use.
In addition, users need to know their PIN, which was determined when they handed over the identification document. With the “ePerso”, a query to the Federal Motor Transport Authority is started in the app and the digital driver’s license is then transferred to the smartphone.
In the terms of use, the Federal Motor Transport Authority points out that the digital driver’s license is currently not a full replacement for the actual identification document – there is still no legal basis. Old paper driving licenses, commonly known as “rags”, cannot be transferred. The ministry emphasized that work is being carried out at the EU level to ensure that the digital driver’s license is also recognized as official proof of the driver’s license, for example in police checks.
You can also store your personal ID in the “ID Wallet”. This is intended, for example, to enable hotels to offer their guests contactless check-in without the customer having to go to reception to establish their identity. In this scenario, the smartphone would also serve as a digital key to open the hotel room. A pilot project of the federal government with Deutsche Bahn, Lufthansa, Bosch and BWI, the IT service provider of the German armed forces, has been running since mid-May.
In the federal government, the Minister of State for Digitization, Dorothee Bär (CSU), campaigned for the digitization of official documents and the applications based on them. The opposition criticizes the fact that Germany is lagging behind in terms of digitization in an international comparison.
Criticism from the Bitkom association
The digital association Bitkom also criticized the federal government: The “driving license as an app” ranks “in the arduous attempts to use digital technologies at the interface between administration and consumers in Germany too”, criticized Bitkom managing director Bernhard Rohleder.
“First there was an electronic identity card, but in fact there was no use for it. Then came the electronic health card, which had nothing to offer except master data. Now comes a driver’s license app that is not accepted during police checks. ” This app is a first small step on the way to digital mobility, nothing more.
Rohleder emphasized that Norway or Kosovo, for example, were years ahead of Germany. Official driver’s license apps were introduced there in 2019 and 2018, which had all the functions of a classic driver’s license. “Only when the driving license app can also be used in Germany in all standard situations and for administrative services will it be widely used.”
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