This afternoon, Victoria’s Road Authority, VicRoads, has enabled Digital Licenses.
Digital licences have been recently introduced in Victoria, Australia, and are available for fully licensed drivers, motorcyclists, and heavy vehicle operators. These provide a convenient and secure way to carry and present your driver’s licence information on your smartphone.
The move to offer digital licenses in Victoria comes after a successful trial of more than 15,000 users in Ballarat during 2023.
Learner and probationary licence holders won’t be able to access a digital licence until 2025. When we look at the other parts of Australia, the rollout of digital licenses are progressing at different rates:
- New South Wales (NSW): Digital driver licences are widely available and widely accepted. Over 75% of licensed drivers in NSW have downloaded a digital licence.
- Queensland (QLD): Digital driver licences were introduced in November 2023 and are available through the Queensland Digital Licence app.
- South Australia (SA): Digital driver licences have been available since 2017 and can be accessed through the mySA GOV app.
- Australian Capital Territory (ACT): ACT Policing accepts interstate digital driver licences, but encourages drivers to also carry their physical licence.
- Western Australia (WA): Digital driver licences from other states are accepted, but WA has not yet implemented its own digital licence program.
- Tasmania (TAS): Digital licences are not yet available in Tasmania.
- Northern Territory (NT): Digital licences are not yet available in the Northern Territory.
Premier of Victoria, Jacinta Allan confirmed the availability of digital licenses in Vicotria this afternoon (1hr ago).
Goodbye Wallet
Since I was a teenager, a wallet has been part of my life. Today, that ends, with the introduction of the digital license being the last remaining reason for me to carry one.
Cash/Payments I don’t use cash anymore with tap-and-pay at the point of sale, replacing the need to carry physical money.
Loyalty Cards With Android and iOS both offering digital wallets that include loyalty cards, the need to carry the physical version of loyalty cards has also been removed.
Keys When I got my Tesla in 2019, I was able to leave my keys behind, with the connected car offering digital keys. I did carry a physical card as a backup for a while, but given the reliability, I also don’t need to carry that.
License Today’s transition completes the puzzle and removes the final reason I carried a wallet with me. I was excited when Victoria announced they were working on digital licenses and even more excited today to leave it behind. Other cards like Medicare also went digital (via the phone app) a while ago.
How to get your Digital License in Victoria
If you have your full license, just download the myVicRoads or Service Victoria app to get your digital license today.
Having had the app on my phone and seeing the news, I launched the app, verified with a fingerprint and my Digital License was immediately available, a rarely simple experience from a Government entity.
The license features your photo overlaid with a digital watermark that changes as you rotate your phone. This mirrors the physical card and immediately differentiates the app from a screenshot or photo.
When you need to provide your license to the Police, or other entities trying to verify your identity, they can scan a QR code that takes them to a page that displays your verified license.
On your app, you’ll see your license number, expiry date, address, date of birth and signature, however, the scan provides your name, photo and license status to the entity.
I got my digital license on Monday 14 May afternoon – I was looking at the Services Vic app, and noticed it was an option when adding cards. It only took a few minutes to add it in to my Service Vic wallet, very easy.
I meant Monday 13 May.