Wednesday, 4 December 2024
The pre-production/beta version of Austroads’ Digital Trust Service (DTS) has been tested and the results confirmed that it can be scaled up nationally. The Austroads’ DTS provides relying parties with a list of issuing authority public keys that are used to authenticate mobile driver licences (mDLs) issued by the Australian states and territories.
“The DTS gives relying parties the assurance that the mDL was issued by a true issuing authority and the trust that it complies with international mDL standards for privacy, security, and interoperability,” said Geoff Allan, Austroads Chief Executive.
“Our testing demonstrated that we can now scale the DTS across Australia. We hope that every state and territory will have mDLs or digital driver licences within the next 18 months and that their keys will be in the DTS,” he said.
To road-test its Digital Trust Service, Austroads hosted two international events in October 2024 – the Identity and Verifiable Credentials Summit 2024 and the 10th International Interoperability Test Event. More than 450 participants attended the events, bringing together key figures from the European Commission, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), the Association of European Vehicle and Driver Registration Authorities (EReg), senior executives from government services, Australia’s major banks, and leading identity and wallet providers.
“At these events, leading wallet providers and verifiers demonstrated that their technologies could seamlessly work together. All participants were able to host their cryptographic keys on the Austroads DTS, with 350 tests conducted by 21 providers. The results were a resounding success,” commented Geoff, highlighting the achievements of the collaboration.
The tests demonstrated how three continents can verify not only state-border but also international credentials. Participants successfully validated each other's digital wallets, walking through the U.S Department of Homeland Security’s airport biometric device that validates mDLs.
This historic moment included representatives from European countries such as France and the Netherlands, U.S. states like Arizona, Utah, and Maryland, and Australian states and territories, including Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Northern Territory, and Western Australia. The Australian wallets in use were based on their first-generation proof of concept ISO wallets.
Donnie Scott, CEO of Idemia, which provided the credential authentication technology (CAT) for the demonstration, said, “Our CAT technology helps travellers across the US get on board an airplane using their digital credentials. It is great to see organisations like Austroads and AAMVA stepping up to build the underlying infrastructure to allow this technology work wherever we are in the world.”
Ian Grossman, President and CEO of AAMVA said, “The DTS brings together the experience and learnings from North America and Europe. It brings global best practices that support safety, security, inclusion, reliability, and interoperability. It has shown the power of collaboration on a global scale to deliver better outcomes domestically and internationally.”
Florent Tournois, who leads both the ISO-developed French Wallet and the European Union’s program POTENTIAL, emphasised the importance of a standards-based approach in improving security. He noted, “It will bring security to online services, reduce fraud around identity, and eliminate paper-based fraud.” Florent also highlighted how the digital wallet system makes life simpler, saying, “It will be easier for people to do everything with just their phone.”
Don Young, Senior Director, Digital Strategy and Advisory from the Northern Territory Government that also validated their ISO compliant mDLs at the Austroads events, noted, “Digital licensing gives more power to the people who hold that digital licence to decide how they are going to use that for identity proofing in a way that is more safe and secure and privacy respecting.”
The demonstration also showcased how a wireless payment device could now verify proof of age without exchanging any personal data, using the MATTR proof of concept. This development adds another layer of privacy and convenience to digital credential verification.
Claire Barber, CEO of MATTR, said, “With the integration of tap-to-verify technology, organisations can now utilise off the shelf point-of-scale hardware and benefit from seamless, secure, and efficient acceptance of digital credentials. This advancement means convenience, and the assurance that every verification respects user privacy. The Austroads events demonstrated how digital credential capabilities can be implemented across boundaries, at scale, and be an integral part of everyday interactions.”
Another highlight was the demonstration of using a driver licence to sign legal documents via Docusign, showcasing the seamless integration of digital credentials in legal documents such as a mortgage or bill of sale.
Shaun McLagan, Group Vice-President and General Manager at Docusign Asia-Pacific, said: “We are proud to work with Austroads, one of the global leaders in standardising identity and verifiable credentials.
“Our work with Austroads on the DTS is a significant step toward a more seamless, secure and digital-first future for businesses across Australia. We look forward to continuing this important work with the DTS to streamline identity management and simplify how agreements are signed, verified, and secured with mobile driver licenses.”
Geoff Allan added, “We look forward to working with government stakeholders and with the industry in 2025 to co-develop the system that will work best for all Australians.”
Key outcomes
Approximately 73% of all reported transactions used the Austroads DTS in the pre-production environment, totalling over 453 transactions.
The event tested different credential types defined by the international standard ISO 18013. A total of 618 transactions were reported, including:
- 589 transactions involving mDLs
- 143 transactions involving photo IDs
- 44 transactions involving vehicle registration certificates
- 39 transactions involving mobile international certificates of vaccination
No issues were reported during any of the transactions when using DTS as a trust list or verified issuer certificate authority list (VICAL) provider.
Austroads extends its gratitude to MATTR for their collaboration and support in developing the pre-production/beta VICAL, a crucial step in advancing the DTS, as well as to event sponsors FAST, THALES, and Entrust for their invaluable contribution to the success of the IVC24.
Watch a video documentary about the IVC24 and the DTS here.
About Austroads
Austroads, the organisation behind the DTS, is the association of the Australian and New Zealand transport agencies, representing all levels of government. Austroads is a longstanding authority in verifying driver licences with decades of technology and data expertise.
Image 1: 350 tests showed the Austroads Digital Trust Service (DTS) can be scaled across Australia.
Image 2: The DTS leverages the Verified Issuer Certificate Authority List (VICAL) to verify a digital credential is from a trusted issuing authority. L to R: Oliver Terbu (MATTR), Tobias Looker (MATTR), Chris Goh (Austroads), Preet Patel (MATTR).
Image 3: Australian jurisdictions back move to align mobile driver licences with global standards. L to R:
- Florent Tournois, France Identité (Ministère de l'intérieur - ANTS)
- Jim Queenan, Idemia
- Christopher Caras, Driver Licence Division Utah
- Christopher Williams, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- Ivo van der Werff, RDW
- Eric Jorgensen, AAMVA, Arizona Motor Vehicle Division
- Negash Assefa, AAMVA, Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration
- Arjan Geluk, A4advisory
- Donald Young, Department of Corporate and Digital Development Northern Territory
- Rebecca Poduti, Department of Transport Western Australia
- Simon Brodie, Transport for New South Wales
- Tim Mitchell, Department of Transport and Planning Victoria
- Jurgen Schaub, Service Victoria
- Rehan Arif, Service New South Wales