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Mobile·2 min read

Germany Plans Digital Driving Licence on Smartphones by November

Germany's transport ministry wants the digital driving licence on smartphones by the end of November. It will live in the i-Kfz app, but the plastic card stays required abroad.

A person holding a smartphone showing a digital driving licence in a car, with a plastic licence card beside it.
Image: t3n Magazin
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Germany's Federal Ministry of Transport plans to launch a digital driving licence for smartphones by the end of November. The ministry told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that drivers who store the digital proof will no longer have to carry their plastic card on trips within Germany. No official launch date has been announced yet.

How it will work

The licence is meant to be stored in the i-Kfz app, developed by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt) together with Bundesdruckerei. The app is already free for Android and iOS. According to the authority, it had been installed on more than two million phones by August 2026.

Users can already save their vehicle registration document in the app and show it during traffic checks. Doing so requires an activated online ID function, a PIN and an NFC-capable smartphone. The digital licence would add a second key document. The ministry also expects it to make rental cars and car sharing easier.

The digital version is a supplement, not a replacement. The classic card remains necessary for trips abroad, among other cases.

Police want better preparation

The police union GdP backed digitising vehicle and licence documents last year. Deputy federal chairman Michael Mertens said modern digital proofs can simplify administrative processes and save resources. He also criticised a lack of preparation: at the end of 2025 there were no nationwide training programmes on how to check digital documents or record them in a legally sound way. Digital proofs must also be checkable in real time against official databases, he said, otherwise checks remain patchy. Whether those gaps have closed is unclear.

What comes next

According to the ministry, the digital licence is due to be added to Germany's EUDI wallet in early 2027. A European rollout is also planned but could take until 2030. Anyone who wants to be ready can already download the app and verify their identity online.

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Tags:digital driving licencegermanyi-kfz appeudi walletsmartphone

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