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Apple Delays iOS 15 Feature for Adding Your Driver's License to Your iPhone Until Early 2022

IIGS User said:
If I had to venture a guess, this is is to secure a nationwide roll out of the feature.

Apple doesn't want to release it to just a handful of states, just to have to convince more people later to adopt it.

Hey, look, RI is finally on board! Now DE and CA? PA? No. Why does that person from MD get to send their ID info to TSA to get on a flight while I fumble with my card, my belt, and my shoes? CRAP! I dropped my card? Where did it go? I can buy new shoes when my flight lands. Without my ID, I'm screwed.

Too much confusion. So, to get it to work right the first time, Apple probably went back to the DMV's in the states that were lagging, negotiated with them to help bring their technology up to date so that they could make this work nationwide and needed more time to make that happen.

So the delay time is the time Apple thinks it needs to bring the remaining laggard states on line so the rollout is nationwide, along with TSA so it all happens at the same time.

People see others zapping their ID info to TSA at the airport and don't have to say "Well, I can't get that yet" they can say "I want that".

Apple has it, others don't. It will drive sales significantly. Getting it right and nationwide from go will be a huge get, and is worth the wait from all aspects.

I just got back from a cruise that included a domestic flight. How nice it would have been to use my phone like Apple pay to send my ID to the TSA checker instead of fumbling with my ID. Not having to worry about losing it. On the same device that has my boarding pass
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Don’t agree with your premise.

Apple rolled out Apple Pay peacemeal both in the USA bank by bank, card type by card type and world-wide country by country, bank by bank and card type by card type.

Apple is not going to wait to have all or most states on board because that is a prescription for never launching.

Apple will roll out in some key markets and the buzz from customer demand to states (as happened to banks with Apple Pay - obviously nobody is going to move states like they might have moved banks but the pressure on states will be similar.)

In addition, Apple’s DigitialID contract terms are likely a product of lessons learned from dealing with banks that were problems due to not committing the necessary resources to launch and maintain.
 
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Nordichund said:
I have had my Norwegian driving licence on my iPhone for several years now, using an app created by the licensing authority. It is only valid in Norway, and is very useful if you get stopped by the police, since not having your licence with you carries a small fine.

Hopefully, one day my passport will also be on there.
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Funny story. My wife has a digital license (not from Norway, somewhere else) and got pulled over in a foreign country. The police officer wasn’t thrilled she didn’t have her physical card with her, but he accepted it.
 
lazyrighteye said:
Quoting myself from Nov. 15 - didn't know this would play out so soon.
But yeah... Not at all surprising. Anyone, with even tertiary knowledge of how state government budgets are managed and planned, knows that asking states to devote headcount, processes development and management to ensure smooth adoption is silly. If Apple truly wanted this to see rapid state-wide adoption, they would have needed to make it as resource-light on states as is possible. It does not appear that has been the case.
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I’m sure you’re correct that the processes required to implement a digital driver’s license at the state level is part of the issue, but the costs required to set up these systems are likely the biggest issue. Because states will still need to produce physical cards, since not everyone has a smart phone, let alone iPhone, asking them to pay for the people and assets needed to handle digital licenses has to be budgeted for. And to make it something usable by the broadest number of citizens, it will need to have an Android option too, further complicating things.
 
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iBluetooth said:
Working with government was of course going to delay this.
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If you'd said governments (plural) you might be closer to reality. It's generally states that issue driver's licenses. Getting them all to agree on a specification that works for each state and is workable for Apple wallet takes a lot of time and effort.
 
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The whole concept of requiring paper / physical copies of certain records is quickly becoming obsolete, but that doesn't mean that all states and affected organizations are supporting these changes with enthusiasm.

Drivers in my state are still expected / required to carry a copy of their car registration with them in the car, and if they are ever stopped by police then one of the things they will always be required to provide is that paper copy. And yet we know very well that the police have the information on their laptop in their police car and by the time they pull someone over, they've input the car license plate number and they know very well if the car is registered and current, or not. As well as who the owner is, and so forth. (And we still have to put the little sticker on the license plate every year to prove we've renewed the registration, too).

That information goes with the car, not with the driver, but I see it as a similar development, and I think we will get there eventually. But the comments here are right, we need 50 states to come to their own decisions on these things, a difficult path.
 
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thejadedmonkey said:
Blame Apple's culture, management, and the like, not working from home. I work for a hospital's app development team and we've been more productive since they sent everyone home, not less.
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So you're saying you guys were being lazy at the office? (jk)
 
gsmornot said:
So you're saying you guys were being lazy at the office? (jk)
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Haha yeah. Too much free coffee and we'd have monthly birthday celebrations with cake. I definitely miss that part of office culture, but there's something to be said about not spending an 90 minutes in the car every day.
 
DeepIn2U said:
1 hospital team vs a global corporation with partnerships that more than likely dwarf your hospitals'.

Still glad you're being productive as well as colleagues at the hospital - that's a necessity in any day/age and although I'm not in your location, for the human race I'm VERy greatful.
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My original reply was snarky, and I apologize. I think that the biggest difference between my company and Apple is that we are used to dealing with the government, but state and federal, on a daily basis, and our managers know how to manage expectations and timelines very well. Apple's timeline is "we're Apple, do our bidding", and I'm sure that sort of attitude conflicts with the government.
 
 
Can I get this in south carolina please. also for my passport and vax card. hate carrying a wallet!!!
 
macintoshmac said:
Amazing. Would be glad if they make it properly functional by iOS 16.2 and stop talking of things that are not 100% ready to ship.
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I think the reverse could be said for readers of this and other forums. Apple could announce a new feature and people freak out saying RELEASE IT NOW and continuously posting and mentioning how they HAVE TO have it now and "release it already".
 
jmgregory1 said:
I’m sure you’re correct that the processes required to implement a digital driver’s license at the state level is part of the issue, but the costs required to set up these systems are likely the biggest issue. Because states will still need to produce physical cards, since not everyone has a smart phone, let alone iPhone, asking them to pay for the people and assets needed to handle digital licenses has to be budgeted for. And to make it something usable by the broadest number of citizens, it will need to have an Android option too, further complicating things.
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Sorry, cost is exactly what I meant when I said "process" - the cost of head count, the cost of development, management, etc. It all comes down to cost. And state governments budget for things well in advance. And there are many programs, policies and individuals vying for govt. funding/support. So I could see where something like getting state I.D.s into Wallet may be a tougher sell than other, more worthy, causes. ;)
 
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lazyrighteye said:
Sorry, cost is exactly what I meant when I said "process" - the cost of head count, the cost of development, management, etc. It all comes down to cost. And state governments budget for things well in advance. And there are many programs, policies and individuals vying for govt. funding/support. So I could see where something like getting state I.D.s into Wallet may be a tougher sell than other, more worthy, causes. ;)
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Particularly when the only use supported so far is for TSA at airports. What benefit is there to the average person in a state to expend state resources for such a limited benefit. To save a few seconds on not having to show the physical ID card that you still need to carry for every other ID need but TSA.
 
Select TSA checkpoints in select airports in select states will support this feature when it launches.

Why do I feel like even after it officially launches, it’ll be a loooong time before I actually get to try it out.
 
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Siri:’you are not allowed to drive (the homecar) according your Coronahealth at the moment’. ‘Please pay your fine with Applepay’.
kind of EU passport. Goodbye freedom.
‘2030 you will own nothing, -not even your body- and will be happy’ . Who said?
 
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thejadedmonkey said:
Blame Apple's culture, management, and the like, not working from home. I work for a hospital's app development team and we've been more productive since they sent everyone home, not less.
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Appel does have a WFH policy though. If anything, blame the state and legal systems for probably still using workstations from 1990 plus manual paper handling.
 
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macintoshmac said:
Amazing. Would be glad if they make it properly functional by iOS 16.2 and stop talking of things that are not 100% ready to ship.
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I'm going to guess that the delay was not caused by Apple but by the states. Corporations are far more efficient than governments. Government agencies are slow-moving, tech-illiterate, and full of deadbeats.
 
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