With the ID Wallet app, the Federal Government wants to bring the digital wallet to the smartphone of German citizens. The wallet enables users to manage and use digital credentials on their own smartphones. Currently, this is already possible with the driving licence – although only to a limited extent. Other functions are to follow.
The digital driving licence
The ID Wallet will be a big step towards digitalisation. The first idea: In the future, drivers from Germany will carry a digital version of their driving licence with them – on their smartphone. All they need is an identity card with an active online function. And of course a smartphone. In addition, the free app ID Wallet must be installed, to which the digital driving licence is then transferred after a query to the Federal Motor Transport Authority.
The advantage of this technology: the digital driving licence could make video verification obsolete, for example in car sharing. In addition, it could become possible to store one’s ID card in the ID Wallet, which should enable contactless check-in at hotels in the future.
Sixt and BMW are currently working on the application for the digital driving licence. At the same time, work is being done on the EU level to introduce the digital driving licence as official proof of a driver’s licence.
However, as long as the digital driving licence is not officially accepted – for example during a police check – the idea behind it is questionable. Criticism comes from the digital association Bitkom, for example, which sees an advantage in the driving licence app only when it can also be used in all common situations.
The digital identity
Parallel to the development of the digital driving licence, Germany and Spain are working together to build an ecosystem for digital identity. In the long run, all of Europe should be shown “the potential of user-centred, decentralised identities”, says Minister of State Dorothee Bär.
With the joint project on digital identity, Germany and Spain want to advance digitisation both nationally and across Europe that focuses on the individual. Citizens should be able to securely share their own identity data under their exclusive control.
Germany is not only cooperating on digital identity with Spain. Close bilateral cooperation is also planned with Finland on the development of a cross-border ecosystem of digital identities based on the principles of SSI. With this project, Germany is catching up in terms of digitalisation and is significantly involved in a solution that is based on European values and ensures the security of user data throughout the European Union.
Secure digital ecosystem by myEGO
The benefits of digital identity through SSI are undisputed at the federal and EU levels. But a secure ecosystem for the wallet is still lacking.
The digital wallet is already a step in the right direction. myEGO is convinced, however, that the focus here should be on self-sovereign identity (SSI). Therefore, myEGO has developed a blockchain-based solution in which the users of the wallet can be sure that their data is encrypted at all times and that only the necessary parameters are passed on. myEGO thus is the secure digital substructure for the wallet. Using SSI technology, myEGO takes the wallet to a new level.