Texas goes digital with new driver’s license system

For 25 years,texas drivers have been getting their licenses the old-fashioned way: going to the local licensing bureau, filling out forms, having their picture taken–and waiting 30 days to 45 days to receive their new license in the mail.

Second only to California in the number of driver licenses it issues, Texas replaced its film-based licenses with an all-electronic system from Polaroid Electronic Imaging Systems, Bedford, Mass.

“The new Texas licenses have three main benefits,” says Col. James Wilson, director of the Department of Public Safety (DPS), the state agency responsible for driver licensing. “They are secure; they are nearly counterfeit-proof; and they look great.”

Texas installed 378 workstations in 185 permanent license bureaus and another 72 workstations in rural mobile bureaus.

Each workstation captures and stores applicants’ personal information, portraits, fingerprints and signatures and transfers the information to a local server.

The server transmits the data overnight to DPS headquarters in Austin, initiating a production process that will have licenses, renewals, updates and corrections in the drivers’ mailboxes in five to seven days.

The front of the license has been redesigned and color coded to be more readable and informative, with electronically captured full-color portraits that are larger, brighter and sharper than the old film photos.

Because the captured portrait is displayed instantly on the workstation, the DPS agent can retake the photo if necessary.

Adult licenses have the portrait on the right side of the license, while portraits of those under 21 are on the left. Under-21 licenses also display the date drivers turn 21, so their ages can be checked at a glance.

Because driver licenses are the most commonly requested form of photo identification, the DPS has expanded the magnetic strip information system to carry three lines of data, making it more functional and fully compatible with standard bank and identification card readers.

By checking that the electronic data matches the data on the front of the license, merchants can quickly and easily confirm that the license has not been altered.

Better yet, the system allows data to be loaded directly into a cash register, so transactions are concluded more quickly, eliminating transcription errors and hard-to-read handwriting.

Eventually, Texas law enforcement officials expect to be able to download to police computers and mobile cruiser terminals all the data in a driver’s online file, including portrait, fingerprints and signature.

The entire license is encased in a PolaSecure laminate, a virtually indestructible material that makes attempts at tampering immediately obvious. (The same material is used to laminate all inmate Ids in the Texas state prison system.

An additional security feature is the word “Texas” printed in ultraviolet ink on the inside of the laminate. A number of other closely guarded security features make it virtually impossible to successfully tamper with, duplicate or modify the license.

For example, the applicant’s two thumbprints and signature are electronically scanned and captured.

Image data, which has been compressed by advanced software routines, takes up less file space and transmits faster than standard electronic images.

Bar codes are tracked throughout the production process to maintain “zero gap” document control.

The zero-gap control process, which is commonly used in the control of currency printing, ensures that every license is accounted for.

Thumbprints captured at the time of application are not printed on the license, although they remain a part of the driver’s permanent record.