Federal government wants to bring driver's license to smartphone by end of 2026

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The Federal Cabinet today passed the draft of a "5th Law Amending the Road Traffic Act and Other Road Traffic Regulations" submitted by the Federal Minister of Transport. This lays the foundation for digital services in the transport sector – including the digitalization of vehicle documents. The amendment was initiated already at the beginning of the year by the traffic light coalition.

"We at the BMV are resolutely advancing the digitalization of administration and transport – for a capable state and modern infrastructure that makes everyday life easier for citizens and companies. The draft law makes digitalization tangible – because it contains concrete measures that directly improve our daily lives. For example, it forms the basis for the digitalization of the driver's license and vehicle registration documents, so that in the future the card driver's license or the paper vehicle registration document can stay at home. The documents can be proven digitally via smartphone, said Federal Minister Patrick Schnieder (CDU) on the occasion of the decision. It provides for several measures.

Driver's license on the smartphone

The draft law is intended to lay the legal foundations for the introduction of a digital driver's license. This will allow the card driver's license to stay at home in the future, provided it can be accessed via smartphone and thus digitally proven. This is intended to facilitate, among other things, the use of rental car and car-sharing services, it states.

The goal is to make the national digital driver's license available by the end of 2026. This would make it available well before the introduction date of the uniform and EU-wide digital driver's license, which is planned for 2030 at the latest. The federal government also intends to include "the technical specifications for the EUDI wallet" in the development of the digital driver's license.

Digital parking management

The draft law is intended to give "municipalities up-to-date scope for effective parking management": Instead of paper parking tickets, "license plate-based control using scanning vehicles" should be possible, which increases the effectiveness of parking space controls. "The control is faster and more accurate. Cars that block, for example, emergency routes or cycle paths, can also be identified more quickly, which increases traffic safety," it says in the press release of the BMV.

Furthermore, vehicle data in the databases of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) are to be made usable in a "modern digital and recipient-friendly" manner. For this purpose, the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) intends to set up "simple access" on its website to "access technical vehicle data".

With the respective chassis number, anyone will be able to retrieve information about vehicle recalls and the technical data of a vehicle ("certificates of conformity") "vehicle-specifically" in the future.

Prohibition of point trading

Furthermore, the draft law provides for an express prohibition of the so-called trading of points for traffic violations to increase road safety. The prohibition also covers "its offer and mere attempts". Commercial violations can be fined up to 30,000 euros.

The draft law is not the first step towards administrative digitalization. Since April 28, interested parties have been able to test a digital vehicle registration document on their smartphone and leave the classic paper version at home. The solution is to be available in a pilot operation via the i-Kfz app, which the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) and the Federal Printing Office developed jointly on behalf of the BMDV. The application is part of the internet-based vehicle registration, via which citizens have been able to register, deregister, and re-register their vehicles online since autumn 2023.

(afl)