Iowa to have mobile driver's licenses in 2018

Ever since the first US smartphone to contain a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip for contactless mobile payments was released more than seven years ago, there has been no shortage of hype, commentary, news stories, and hopeful discourse about the concept of ditching the physical wallet for good.

Of course, such high-concept rhetoric always reliably meandered down the path of exceptions and caveats, making it nothing more than futuristic hyperbole. One of the biggest exceptions has always been needing to carry around a form of photo ID, like a driver's license, especially in places like Iowa where getting behind the wheel from point A to point B is a necessary part of everyday life.

A fundamental milestone in changing the way those IDs are distributed in Iowa is about to be achieved next year, as the state will allow you to download an app that displays a digital version of your driver's license on your smartphone.

If you're a bleeding-edge mobile enthusiast from the Hawkeye State, you've been waiting for this. Iowa has been a pioneer in this space, suggesting a digital driver's license back in 2014. Only a matter of months later, it had a real-world proof-of-concept, rolled out to dozens of Iowa Department of Transportation employees who were involved in the project and became among the first people in the country to possess a non-physical statewide government-issued photo ID.

Next year, it's going public. For traffic stops and other situations where the local or state government requires ID, residents of Iowa will be able to pull out their smartphone instead of their wallet. The mobile license will exist in a special app designed by MorphoTrust USA.

"I think that the digital driver's license doesn't so much solve a problem as it fulfills a need and a desire on the part of the American consumer to have everything that is important to us in electronic form and on the mobile device of our choice. People are more likely to leave their wallet at home these days than their cellphone," says MorphoTrust VP Jenny Openshaw on the company's website.

Iowa is among 10 states investing in the mobile driver's license/ID technology. Although it was the first to set up a working pilot program, it will not be the first to have a public rollout. Alabama, for example, also has a mobile driver's license. However, it's only possible to get one when you renew an existing license, and only if you renew it online. Iowa's platform will be more seamless: anyone who has an existing license will be able to get a digital version of it by downloading the app and verifying their identity.

All that said, it's still not as amazing a solution as you might want it to be. After all, private businesses like bars, hotels, and car rental companies still have complete discretion over what forms of ID they will accept. And in a statement to the Des Moines Register, TSA spokesperson Lucy Martinez confirmed that "digital driver's licenses are not accepted as a valid form of identification" to pass through an airport checkpoint, though she did say the agency is aware of programs like Iowa's. It's no doubt only a matter of time before mobile forms of ID trickle their way through that particular bureaucracy, as well as through the private sector.

Other barriers that exist include concerns over how police officers will treat a mobile driver's license. At a traffic stop, the concept of handing over your smartphone -- which increasingly contains every component of your daily life -- will be a tough concept for many to swallow. And the fear of technical malfunctions or a dead battery will likely be enough of a concern that drivers will still want to keep a physical copy of their license for backup.

Nevertheless, any movement forward in the space of bureaucratic government adopting new technology is a positive step.