Electronic Driver's License Verification via heyNova (Section 21 of the Road Traffic Act (StVG))

We’re working on an electronic driver’s license verification feature right within heyNOVA—so you can easily fulfill your vehicle owner liability obligations (§ 21 StVG) in a legally compliant manner.

Issues:

• Companies are responsible, in part due to vehicle owner liability (§ 21 StVG), for ensuring that only individuals with a valid driver’s license operate vehicles.

• The European driver’s license does not yet have a built-in NFC chip.

• A visual inspection can easily be faked. Photos aren’t enough.

• Legally compliant driver’s license checks are either very expensive (video identification) or very time-consuming (in-person).

Advantages:

• When a driver’s license is revoked, the physical license is actually confiscated. If you do not have a driver’s license, you do not have a physical license.

• We can therefore link the verification of a driver’s license to the physical presence of the license itself.

Solution:

• NFC chips

  • We will embed our own NFC chips in the driver’s licenses. These are cryptographically generated and forgery-proof.

  • 500 stickers cost a one-time fee of 300 EUR to 500 EUR

  • When the NFC stickers are removed, they are destroyed in the process and thus cannot be “transferred” to other media.

• Implementation in heyNova and NovaHub

  • The heyNova app will enable one-time pairing between the NFC chip (=driver’s license) and the user account.

  • Only an administrator can unpair the chip from the account (e.g., if the driver’s license has been renewed or lost).

  • Drivers will then simply be able to hold their driver’s license with the chip up to their phone; heyNova will verify the chip against the account and securely store the result.

  • Customers will be able to set the verification interval in NovaHub (before each trip, daily, weekly, monthly).

  • Customers will also be able to set how many times the verification can be skipped before a trip is prevented from starting.

  • An analytics feature will allow users to export and review the checks.

  • Overdue checks will be displayed in the planning overview.