Five questions about the dematerialized driving license, available throughout France since this Wednesday

The driving license can now be scanned on a smartphone via the France Identity mobile application, to speed up checks and limit the risks of theft or fraud.

No more need to frantically search your car in the event of a check. The dematerialized driving license on smartphone, which had been tested in three departments since May 2023 (Rhône, Hauts-de-Seine and Eure-et-Loir), became accessible to all French people, Wednesday February 14, at condition of having a new generation identity card. How to get it ? Should it replace the physical license? Why did the service experience hiccups on Wednesday? Here’s what you need to know.

1 How to create your dematerialized license?

To obtain the precious digital key, you must first register on the France Identity application, published by the National Agency for Secure Titles (ANTS). It also becomes accessible to everyone from Wednesday, on iOS or Android smartphones equipped with NFC technology, which already allows contactless payments with your phone.

You must also be one of the 17 million French people with a national electronic identity card (CNIe). This bank card-sized identity document, distributed since August 2021, is equipped with a secure electronic chip which allows it to communicate with your smartphone.

On the other hand, there is no need to have the latest version of the driving license: even the old model, in the form of pink paper sheets, can be dematerialized.

Once registered on the France Identity application, you will need to retrieve a document, the restricted information statement, from the My permitted points online platform. It includes a QR code, which must be scanned with the application so that the dematerialized driving license is added to it, and available in the Wallet tab.

A second method for importing your driving license will become available “during the year”according to The Parisian. We can then “import [ses] rights to drive in “remotely querying the road safety delegation database”.

2 I can’t register for France Identity, why?

On the morning of Wednesday, users reported to franceinfo or on social networks their difficulties in accessing the France identity application, explaining that they were encountering error messages.

It’s the infrastructure of the application that obviously had a bit of trouble. faced with the influx of new users. ANTS confirms to franceinfo that the application has received “3 million connections in a few minutes”. What to create “a few corks” when using the application, euphemizes the team responsible for it, on X. “Our teams are hard at work to make the connection more fluid”assures the ANTS.

3 In what context can this dematerialized license be used?

The dematerialized driving license allows you to exercise your right to drive with your mobile phone in the same way as a physical license, whether during roadside checks or when renting a vehicle. This digital double can even be downloaded for use in the absence of a mobile network connection.

The police and gendarmes will be able to communicate with your smartphone using their own device. “They will no longer need to type the license number, the essential information will be displayed on their device, just like the recent photo of the driver, even for an old license”specifies the Ministry of the Interior at Parisian.

This digital version must also be used to “limit the loss or theft of the physical license”, “allow you to carry out procedures without disclosing all your data” And “fight against fraud, particularly during online procedures”specifies the ANTS press release.

4 Will it replace the physical license?

Don’t worry if you are not comfortable with this new technology. In its press release, the Ministry of the Interior insists: no, “this digital license does not replace the physical license, it complements it”. “Above all, it saves time in the event of a road check”specifies at Parisian Anne-Gaëlle Baudouin-Clerc, director of ANTS. This idea is also not considered for the future: “In any case, there will be no obligation to go digital, physical and digital will coexist,” assures Gérald Darmanin Parisian.

5 Can other titles be dematerialized using the same application?

France Identity already allows you to dematerialize your identity card, and other titles should arrive soon. “By the end of 2024, the registration certificate (grey card) will be integrated”announces the service in charge of the application in a press release.

This must also make it possible to completely dematerialize the voting proxy request, which will be tested “for around fifty municipalities from the European elections in June” And “generalized by the next municipal elections of 2026”says the Minister of the Interior Parisian. Gérald Darmanin also specifies that the application will be tested on “multiple lines” of trains to allow identity checks via “compatible devices for SNCF agents”.