In collaboration with the state of Maryland and Google, the Transportation Security Administration is accepting Maryland-issued mobile driver’s licenses and ID cards in Google Wallet on Android mobile phones at select TSA airport security checkpoints, including those at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.
To present their ID in Google Wallet, passengers will approach the podium at the first station in the screening process. Passengers may consent to provide their mobile identification from Google Wallet by simply turning on Bluetooth and holding their Android smart phone or watch on the second-generation Credential Authentication Technology reader device.
The digital identity information from the mobile driver’s license is encrypted and transmitted digitally to CAT-2, where the passenger’s real-time camera photograph will be compared against the encrypted mobile identity information from Google Wallet and their reservation data that would have been on the passenger’s boarding pass.
Once the CAT-2 confirms the identity match, a TSA officer will verify the match and the passenger will proceed to security screening ― without ever exchanging a boarding pass.
The real-time live camera photograph and the mobile identification information is not kept, transmitted or used for any purpose other than for the immediate identity verification by a TSA officer. Passengers who do not wish to participate in facial matching can opt out in favor of an alternative identity verification process.