miDGT mobile app - Observatory of Public Sector Innovation

The "miDGT" mobile app allows citizens to carry a digital version of their driving license and vehicle's registration and technical certificates, as well as receive alerts and news of interest, make payments of fines or taxes and access digital services.
It is the first time a digital mobile driving license or registration certificate is issued in Spain, and it helps create an ecosystem for personalized mobile services for citizens to interact with, thus simplifying bureaucratic procedures.

Innovation Summary

Innovation Overview

In Spain, the Directorate General of Traffic is the organization responsible for road safety, traffic law enforcement, driving licenses and vehicle registration. They currently manage 27 million drivers and 35 million vehicles. The goal of the innovation was to create an environment of digital services that would unburden bureaucratic procedures making it easy for any given citizen to access and operate within. In addition, organisers aimed to provide a digital equivalent of both driving license and a vehicle's registration certificate, that allowed the user not to carry the paper or plastic card documents, making it possible to be verified by enforcement officers or other third parties.

The result is the "miDGT" (my DGT) mobile app, available for Android and iOS, that offers a citizen a platform to carry their digital documents (driving license and all of his or her vehicles' registration and technical certificates); access their main data, such as address, penalty points, information about his or her vehicles (insurance, environmental category, periodic technical inspection results, etc.) and event alerts; receive fines' alerts and pay them, pay taxes and access digital services; or make an appointment at one of our offices.
Using Spanish digital system for identity, known as Cl@ve, any citizen can download and access the services of the app. The digital documents can ve verified from the very same app installed in other device of via a verifying app distributed to law enforcement officers. The proccess of verification includes the generation of a QR code that can be read from other device and provides not only information about the authenticity of the digital document, but also about its current validity, showing any alert that may prevent the user to drive a car, i.e. penalty points of judiciary decisions.

The system pivots around the user's needs, as it can use push notifications and built-in alerts to inform the usar about any action that he or she needs to take regarding his or her driving license or vehicles. The app shows also relevant news and will allow DGT to send customized messages to specific users regarding road safety. This can be used, for example, to alert users in a given area of incoming weather conditions to be taken into account when driving in the area, or to send messages of vehicle recalls when issued by the manufacturer to the owners of a given vehicle model. Once again, the focus is on both making easier for the citizen to interact with DGT and contributing to road safety all accross the country.
This innovation can be used by any driver in Spain, as long as he or she registers in the Spanish system for digital identity, it will also help to speed up current bureacratic procedures, as the main ones will be available in the app, making it easier for the citizen to pay a fine, obtain a vehicle report, communicate the usual driver of a vehicle, registering a new vehicle or changing its ownership. The result will be the saving of time and resources for both the citizen and DGT's organization. The ability to check not only the authenticity of a driving license but also its current status of validity will also benefit road safety.

In the near future, the app will evolve to add new features that provide value to the user. Services based on geo-positioning, integration with virtual assistants and the ability to share your driving license's status with third parties (i.e. carsharing services or car rentals) may be introduced. The ease of use and value to the citizen will continue to be the foundation to drive innovation.

Innovation Description

What Makes Your Project Innovative?

The app is innovative in many ways:
- It is the first time an official document issued by the Spanish Government is fully digital and verifiable without its paper or card counterpart, allowing the citizen not to carry his or her driving license nor his or her vehicles' documents.
- It will allow the citizen to carry in his or her mobile device an app that not only will allow him or her to access their digital documents and data, but to receive alerts and news of interest regarding road safety and to interact with our organization via digital services, not needing to make an appointment and come to one of our offices. This digital services platform is available on our website as well, but the app is easier to use and allows citizen who are afraid to digitally interact with the Administration to approach to these services.
- It will help to improve road safety through personalized messages and direct campaigns.

What is the current status of your innovation?

The app is currently at the late stages of development. Since summer, a beta version for a group of approximately 150 people has been in use and we are now starting the open beta phase when any citizen can download the app and contribute with ideas. At the beginning of 2020, the app is scheduled to be open to the public and published at Google Play and App Store, being free to download. From then, functionalities will be added in the following updates of the app in the first 6 months, as we start the development of new features.

Innovation Development

Collaborations & Partnerships

The development of the app has been lead by Government officials, and developed by private companies after a public tender. DGT's IT Department has been in charge of the project both from the technical and functional perspectives, and citizens from inside and outside the Organization have participated in the beta phase to help identify issues and give ideas for future evolution.

Users, Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

Citizens will obtain the most benefit from the app as they will have a digital version of their documents and can access the digital services for their convenience.
Public Administration will also benefit as more citizens will start to interact via digital means with DGT, saving time and resources.
The mobile driving license will also act as an appeal for citizens to register in Spanish digital identity systems, thus allowing them to use services from other Government branches.

Innovation Reflections

Results, Outcomes & Impacts

Organisers expect the use of the mobile driving license to be in the hundreds of thousands.
Use of the app and its features will be measured to help tailor the app for the future evolution.
The issuing of customized messages regarding road safety should have a positive impact decreasing accidents and lives lost.

Challenges and Failures

The lack of use of digital services among the Spanish population is a handicap to the app. Therefore, the appeal of the mobile driving license and vehicle documentation is key to help the app spread and grow digital services' use.
The app will provide a simpler way of accessing the most basic functionality in order to help people know the app and encourage them to register and use its full capacity.
The making of a functional app has represented a challenge for DGT's IT Department as lots of back-end services were needed and had to be developed or adapted. DGT's IT Organization had itself to adapt to face a new scenario with demanding 24x7 service providing.

Conditions for Success

This app could only be developed after many years of evolving a services' ecosystem at DGT's IT Department. Once the foundation was set, the app could grow on top. All of DGT's IT Organization set its course to making this app possible, collaborating from different departments: Development, Infrastructure & Operations, Business Architecture, quality Assurance, Security etc..
Support at the political level was also needed to develop the regulation needed and to help remove the barriers that were encountered along the road.

Replication

The innovation has not yet been replicated, but there is room for it in other Public Sector Organizations, as the mobile access is growing to be the main way for the user to interact with any services: banking, health, media or government.

Apart from that, mobile driving licenses are also being explored in some countries of the European Union and in the United States, so a future can be envisaged of interoperable mobile driving licenses' platforms where a citizen can drive all around the world carrying only his or her phone.

Lessons Learned

To focus the development of the app as a product helped to gain conscience of its challenges and opportunities. The design was done always with the user's needs at the top, and taking advantage of the previous digital services developed in order to fast-tracking the development.

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