The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is to start letting passengers use their digital driving licence or state ID card stored on their smartphone to verify their identity at checkpoints in Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico and Nashville International Airport in Tennessee later this year, according to TSA administrator David Pekoske.

The TSA is to roll out support for contactless digital ID verification at the two airports as part of its ongoing pilot scheme to test the acceptance of state-issued mobile driving licences and state ID cards at security checkpoints that it originally unveiled in January 2022 and is currently being implemented at nearly 20 airports across the US.

The pilot technology enables passengers to download a TSA-approved digital ID app to their mobile device and verify their identity at a TSA checkpoint by scanning a QR code issued by the app.

Pekoske revealed the plans to expand the pilot to Puerto Rico and Tennessee at a congressional budget hearing in Washington DC where he also reported on the progress of the pilot programme.

To date, the TSA has “expanded digital identity technologies that securely enhance the customer experience, including testing TSA PreCheck touchless identity solutions, collaborating with Apple and other private sector partners to incorporate mobile driver’s licenses (mDL) into security checkpoint operations, and publishing an Identity Management Roadmap which lays out a comprehensive end-to-end strategy for identity management at TSA,” Pekoske said.

The TSA currently accepts mobile driving licences issued by Arizona, Colorado, Maryland and Utah at selected TSA PreCheck checkpoints at participating airports.

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