Google is set to follow in Apple’s footsteps inviting its users to upload their driver’s licenses to their Android phones. In a system update for December, the company announced that the feature has been added to the Google Wallet as a “Beta feature.”
According to the note, the feature will “allow users from selected US state(s) to digitize their state ID/driver’s license into the Google Wallet for convenient, private and secure presentation.”
The function has long been promised and, according to Droid-life, was one of the major reasons Google decided to revive its Wallet app in May. At the time, it seemed like a far-off goal for the app, but it may be rolled out quite soon, if this Beta is a success.
Read: Apple Announces That Users Can Upload Their Driver’s License To Wallet App
Up-loadable driver’s license technology is not new, though. Apple introduced the function to its wallet app in September 2021. However, it is limited to states whose departments of motor vehicles are willing to be at the forefront of technology.
Residents of Arizona and Georgia were the first to be able to upload their driver’s license or state I.D. to their iPhone, with Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah following shortly thereafter.
Apple also worked with the Transportation Security Administration to allow people at airports to present the digital version of their I.D. cards to security staff, in order to fly domestically. Built into the system is a special reader that means that people who choose to use this function don’t have to hand their device over to police, security agents, or whoever. The company also said it worked to ensure that neither the state, nor it, are aware of when a user’s license has been scanned.
Unfortunately, what security features are built into the Google system are not yet clear. The only information the company provided about it is in the one line from its update that was quoted above.
