How the ISO/IEC 18013-5 mobile driving licence standard is being enhanced with post-quantum digital signatures for proximity and online verification.
ISO/IEC 18013-5 defines the international standard for Mobile Driving Licences (mDL), enabling smartphones to present cryptographically verifiable identity credentials to law enforcement, car rental agencies, and age-restricted merchants over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and NFC.
In offline settings (such as a roadside traffic stop in a remote area without cellular coverage), the verifier device must authenticate the digital licence using stored public keys. We explain how compact post-quantum signatures enable instant offline cryptographic verification without network connectivity.
Implementing selective disclosure protocols where a citizen proving their legal driving status or age (e.g., 'Over 21') reveals zero additional personal information, preventing merchant identity harvesting.