Illinois DMVs now accepting contactless payment — with digital IDs coming down the road

Starting this week, drivers can use their cellphones to pay for services at Illinois DMVs.

The Illinois secretary of state’s office is now accepting contactless payment options like Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay at all 150 driver services facilities statewide, the agency announced Thursday.

State business services and index facilities have also been equipped with new credit card readers to accept contactless payments, including tap-to-pay cards that don’t require signatures.

“More and more people are ditching their physical wallets for digital ones,” Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said. ““We are leveraging this to shorten waiting times, get people out the door more quickly and keep people’s information more safe from fraud in the process.”

Contactless payments, which are encrypted to protect personal data even from merchants, have proliferated in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The introduction of digital wallets at Illinois DMVs serves as a precursor to digital driver’s licenses and IDs that officials are aiming to roll out statewide next year.

A measure signed into law last month by Gov. JB Pritzker promises to give residents the option to store licenses or IDs on their phones, in addition to physical cards.

It’ll be up to individual businesses whether to accept the digital IDs. Physical IDs could still be required if requested by law enforcement.

Giannoulias’ office is still soliciting vendors for the digital ID program. About a dozen other states already offer them.

Giannoulias said he’s “hopeful” they’ll be available to Illinois residents by the end of 2025.