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

“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.

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,” said Allan

“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,” he said.

Three continents have proven that digital credentials can be verified not just across state borders, but internationally.

The tests, which saw participants validate each other’s digital wallets, included a crucial step—navigating the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s airport biometric system, designed to validate mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs).

This historic event brought together representatives from across the globe, including European nations such as France and the Netherlands, U.S. states like Arizona, Utah, and Maryland, and Australian states and territories—Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Northern Territory, and Western Australia.

Notably, the Australian digital wallets used were based on their first-generation proof-of-concept ISO wallets, marking a significant leap forward in the global acceptance and verification of digital identity.

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.” he said.

According to Ian Grossman, President and CEO of AAMVA 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.” said Grossman

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.