CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – For many people nowadays, cell phones are used for much more than making calls or texts.
They are used for everything from paying for groceries to boarding planes, and now there is a new effort in North Carolina to make driver’s licenses digital as well.
Currently, a handful of states allow digital driver’s licenses that can be stored on cell phones. North Carolina DMV Commissioner Wayne Goodwin wants the Tar Heel State to join them.
Goodwin said digital licenses are more secure than the physical cards everyone carries now.
It could also allow people to control what personal information is shared with someone. For example, when carded at a restaurant or grocery store, a person could only share their date of birth, without showing their address.
“You can determine…I only want to verify my date of birth, verify my address, or verify my full name or verify that I’m over age 21,” Goodwin said. “You decide what you want to share.”
House Bill 199, which contains the digital license provision and several other changes to DMV rules, passed in the transportation committee on Wednesday. It will now headed to a Senate committee, so it has a ways to go before potentially becoming law.
If the bill makes it through the General Assembly and the governor signs it, it would go into effect July 2025.
Related: NCDMV reveals new, more secure drivers license and ID design
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