iPhone Driver's License Support Coming to Illinois

[AstonSmith]

Whenever I read articles like this I have to remind myself of the importance of carrying your license with you in the US! I suspect you’re supposed to in the UK, but I’ve never been asked for it in 40+ years. When travelling in Europe I carry it though.

Nope, there's no legal obligation to carry it in the UK, although if you are asked to present it by a police officer when driving then you have 7 days to report to a police station and show it there.

I think this will be handiest for proving entitlements, rather than worrying about handing phones to police. Does this work over the web too, like credit cards? Renew your regional railcard with the proven address on your licence. And it'd be handy for younger people to prove their age - I have to check ID for alcohol sales and the number of times I've had to refuse photographs of passports and licences... (and occasionally those trying it on by opening the Health app with bogus age information entered).

 

[ryanmp]

This is great news and so close to finally being able to ditch the wallet entirely and only carry my phone. The only issue is restaurants that unbelievably still don’t support contactless payments options. We a need a law requiring this!

 

[darkslide29]

I have had my digital CA driver license for a while and not a single place has ever accepted it. Not TSA at the airport, not at the market while buying beer, not renting a car, not checking into a hotel, not the Apple store to pickup my iPhone, not the bank to make withdrawal.

It is a good idea but in practice it is currently useless.

Same experience here in CA. I wonder if the TSA example is limited to a certain terminal. Once buying beer at a major supermarket, I legitimately forgot my wallet and said excitedly "OH, I have my digital driver's license" but was denied even though I'm over 40. I get it though, not frustrated at the store but more wondering when I'll even have use for it.

 

[Permanent Sigh]

I know it's fun to signal your superiority, but why not inform us too, while you're at it? Why shouldn't that be a concern to people who aren't familiar with how this works?

So there’s this thing called Google…

 

[CarlJ]

This is great news and so close to finally being able to ditch the wallet entirely and only carry my phone. The only issue is restaurants that unbelievably still don’t support contactless payments options. We a need a law requiring this!

It won't take a law, it will be a business case where market penetration gets to the point where payment processing can start charging, say, 2.5% for contactless payments and 5% for swipe-to-pay payments, on the basis that the latter carries more fraud risk. Then those remaining businesses will suddenly decide that it's worth it to buy contactless readers.

 

[philstubbington]

Nope, there's no legal obligation to carry it in the UK, although if you are asked to present it by a police officer when driving then you have 7 days to report to a police station and show it there.

I think this will be handiest for proving entitlements, rather than worrying about handing phones to police. Does this work over the web too, like credit cards? Renew your regional railcard with the proven address on your licence. And it'd be handy for younger people to prove their age - I have to check ID for alcohol sales and the number of times I've had to refuse photographs of passports and licences... (and occasionally those trying it on by opening the Health app with bogus age information entered).

I live in the sticks - relatively speaking - of Henley-on-Thames so the nearest open police station is 11km away 😂

 

[philstubbington]

I suspevt the big difference is that the US doesn't seam to have any universal id (apart from passport or drivers license), and a lot of people in the us do not have passports due to never going abroad. Is a national id car even a thing in the US? (Note to readers in the US: within Schengen (that is EU+Norway Switzerland and one or to other non EU members I can't remember atm )s aid national id cards ar valid for travel and afaik all other id purposes, so for those without a drivers license the national id card is way more convenient to carry than a passport (it's the size of a cc))

Probably Iceland off the top of my head.

 

[Alan Wynn]

Is a national id car even a thing in the US?

No, and in fact one’s U.S. passport is not supposed to be a valid ID with in the U.S. (although most people/agencies seem to ignore this just as people did for Social Security Numbers/cards). ID is done at a state level.

 

[timber]

I suspevt the big difference is that the US doesn't seam to have any universal id (apart from passport or drivers license), and a lot of people in the us do not have passports due to never going abroad. Is a national id car even a thing in the US? (Note to readers in the US: within Schengen (that is EU+Norway Switzerland and one or to other non EU members I can't remember atm )s aid national id cards ar valid for travel and afaik all other id purposes, so for those without a drivers license the national id card is way more convenient to carry than a passport (it's the size of a cc))

It's worth saying that the driving license is only worth as just that, i.e. a document that proves you are certified to drive. It will be shown in tandem with the ID card.
The national ID does serve other functions (at least here). It's a national (and voter) ID, tax number, NHS and social security card.

 

[ryanmp]

It won't take a law, it will be a business case where market penetration gets to the point where payment processing can start charging, say, 2.5% for contactless payments and 5% for swipe-to-pay payments, on the basis that the latter carries more fraud risk. Then those remaining businesses will suddenly decide that it's worth it to buy contactless readers.

That'a a really good point. I just wonder why the US has been so much slower at adopting that business case. I know the banking and payments system in the US has been slower to modernise than other countries but do most restaurants that still take your card and go through that ancient paper based process actually have a terminal out the back fully capable of a contactless payment?

 

[CarlJ]

I know the banking and payments system in the US has been slower to modernise than other countries but do most restaurants that still take your card and go through that ancient paper based process actually have a terminal out the back fully capable of a contactless payment?

Just guessing, and it's been a long time since I regularly went to restaurants, but there's generally three scenarios:

1. You pay at the register when you order or get your food (like a fast food restaurant).
2. You pay at your table after the meal.
3. You pay at the register after the meal, on your way out (using a bill that has been brought to your table).

Options 1 and 3 can do contactless now, fairly easily, because it's just one or two terminals, plugged in, next to registers, up front. For option 2 to go contactless requires the restaurant to buy a bunch of handheld terminals that wait staff can bring out to tables. They could upgrade the terminal where they run your card when they take your card away, and you might never know, but that would only work for US-style contactless cards, that don't require a PIN - Apple Pay and European style Chip&PIN cards (apologies if I'm calling it wrong - no direct experience with the latter) would require bringing out a terminal to the table. And restaurants aren't inclined to spend money to buy new terminals unless there's a compelling reason.

The really ancient paper process, though, where they take an actual impression of the card - that disappeared decades ago.

 

[timber]

Around here we don't really have fixed terminals.
Sometimes the portable terminal is just near the register always plugged on.
A small restaurant will have that terminal roaming around the tables. Larger will have more.
Being forced to get up to pay would be considered poor service unless it's fast food or a very affordable place.
It's not uncommon to have 2 or 3, sometimes one only works with debit cards as they are usually cheaper to operate and most people don't use credit cards day to day (I haven't used mine since it was issued, I do my online shipping with virtual cards and debit for everything else).
Every kind does chip and contactless.

 

[MobiusStrip]

It won't take a law, it will be a business case where market penetration gets to the point where payment processing can start charging, say, 2.5% for contactless payments and 5% for swipe-to-pay payments, on the basis that the latter carries more fraud risk.

Meanwhile, the scumbag credit-card oligopoly deliberately enables fraud in the USA by not requiring a PIN. U.S. customers finally got cards with chips in them decades after the rest of the civilized world, but issuers "forgot" the second half of "chip-&-PIN."

The victimization of retailers by credit-card companies is a disgrace, which attests to the dereliction of the U.S. antitrust regime.

 

[bn-7bc]

It's worth saying that the driving license is only worth as just that, i.e. a document that proves you are certified to drive. It will be shown in tandem with the ID card.
The national ID does serve other functions (at least here). It's a national (and voter) ID, tax number, NHS and social security card.

The same as here in Norway then.