[bri3d]

This implementation is QR code based, which ruins a lot of the value in terms of low-battery use and makes standardization and acceptance difficult.

Anyway, for anything to work in the US, there needs to be an incentive for businesses to use this system, and right now, there isn't one for point-of-sale driver's license use, in my opinion. It's technology (perceived as unreliable, slow, expensive) that can break, vs. looking at an ID, which isn't without its faults but is a simple system everyone understands.

If there were a really fast, simple, cheap, readily available system for age verification which was pushed to bars, I could see this system catching on, but "limited private pilot programs" aren't it.

And that's pretty much my point - starting with places where technology is already required (banking etc.) makes more sense in many ways than starting with driver's license replacement. The issue here is that the horribly broken identity system in the US is Federal (Social Security) while these electronic systems are State.

[vlovich123]

I think that’s because the standard (iso 18013-5) allows for NFC & QR codes which makes sense and because they couldn’t do it over NFC for the iOS app so they likely just chose something they could provide a consistent experience for. It wouldn’t surprise me if the app is even built largely starting with the sample reference code[1].

BTW likely the reason QR codes were part of the standard in the first place was because at the time Apple wasn’t involved and their APIs were (& remain?) locked down so that a third party wouldn’t be able to implement the standard. Apple did join later & have integrated support for the standard into their wallet so I imagine California will be added to their list of states sooner rather than later. Many countries in Europe have a strong federal motor vehicle authority so rolling out these IDs is faster nationally whereas in the US & Canada it’s a patchwork of states/provinces that cooperate under AAMVA & rollouts happen piecemeal on each state’s timeline (to be fair, US & Canada are quite large and historically each state develops their own infrastructure which means you have to replicate updating the infrastructure & it’s usually done by contractors under very lucrative contracts).

Keep in mind there are US states that already integrate with Apple wallet via NFC and whatnot and MDL is a shorthand name for the standard & nobody is going to implement anything other than the standard (that’s why AAMVA, RDW, DVLA & other relevant government bodies had representatives involved with and engaged with the standard / running the standard body)

[1] IIRC the sample app was built by the folks at the UDL as a PoC for the ISO group. Funded by the good folks at RDW which also allowed it to be open-sourced and shared freely. The Netherlands government’s approach to tech is a hidden gem into how to structure policy around tech (I think Estonia is also well regarded because of their adoption of cryptographic ID cards so early).