Like all jurisdictions, the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division (AZ MVD) saw a decrease in the number of office visits and a higher demand for online services when the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year. Thanks to its longstanding partnership with IDEMIA, the AZ MVD has been able to meet its citizens where they are—at home—with its cloud-based e-titling and online permit test solutions.

“People are looking for more online options, so we’ve seen huge growth in these two programs since COVID-19 [began],” says Eric Jorgensen, director, Arizona MVD, Arizona Department of Transportation. “Our customers have been very happy—and pleasantly surprised—with our online offerings.”

E-titling Solution

E-titling in Arizona is made possible by IDEMIA’s Mobile ID, which authenticates the identity of both the buyer and seller against the jurisdiction’s system of record. “To unlock the potential for remote transactions, you need to have a trusted identity,” says Matt Thompson, senior vice president, Identity Solutions at IDEMIA, a longtime trusted partner with AZ MVD. “Mobile ID helps agencies trust that the person is who they claim to be.”

For now, the e-titling solution is only an option for Arizona residents because both parties need to be known to the AZ MVD. “But as more jurisdictions adopt this kind of technology, there could be cross-jurisdictional use of these kinds of tools,” Jorgensen predicts. He also is excited to explore expanding the e-titling program to include other use cases, such as multiple owners and dealership transactions.

Online Permit Testing

The AZ MVD’s Permit Test @ Home program, which is based on an IDEMIA solution that is also used by a growing list of states, including Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, Illinois and Virginia, gives driver’s license applicants the flexibility to take their written knowledge test online from the comfort of their home or another third-party location. The catch? It’s only offered to teens under 18 who must be proctored by a parent or guardian.

“Permit Test @ Home is a great example of the kinds of efficiencies you gain online,” Jorgensen says. “With a 50% failure rate, about half the time it was a wasted trip for the teen and their parent/guardian to come into the office and take the test. Now they only need to come in once they pass.”

One of the AZ MVD’s biggest concerns about implementing the at-home permit test was if cheating would occur. But Jorgensen says the data has not shown this to be the case—the pass/fail rate has remained constant even as more applicants have been taking the test online.
As a result, office visit frequency and duration have been significantly reduced—the average office visit length is now 22 minutes, compared to 52 minutes previously. This not only makes for satisfied customers, but Jorgensen says his staff is happier, too.

Push-and-Pull Partnership

The partnership between IDEMIA and the AZ MVD started out as a traditional buyer/vendor relationship in 2013. But since then, it has grown into so much more.

“I love the push and pull we have with IDEMIA,” Jorgensen says. “I appreciate that they are forward-thinking, bring new ideas to the table and are consistently looking for ways to make the customer experience better—all while being willing to listen to our thoughts and ideas.”

Likewise, Thompson loves the collaborative nature of their relationship. “We’ve been testing a lot of new innovations with [the AZ MVD] in our effort to improve the customer experience,” he says.

Currently, the two organizations are piloting a virtual backdrop solution for remote driver’s license renewal photos, which will eliminate the photo backdrops located in the offices and provide added flexibility in serving customers in-office and online. “There are a lot of services and transactions that people should be able to do online,” Thompson says. “We’re working together to make that happen.”