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SMART CARD BASED DRIVING LICENSE

Introduction 

In a developing country Road Transport is an important sector. Along with the economic development and increase in the trade, the Road Transport Sector is expanding very rapidly. One of the indicators of economic development is the development in road transport 

The Motor Vehicles Department is entrusted with the important regulatory functions pertaining to road transport such as registration of vehicles, issue of Licence to drivers and conductors, issue of various types of permits for transportation of goods and passengers and collection of taxes.  

The Challenge / Need 

The number of vehicles on the road has increased manifold during the last ten years with a corresponding increase in the number of drivers. To manage the issuance and tracking of driving Licence and penalties for traffic offences with such large number of drivers with a compounded growth year after year, an Integrated Solution with timely access to information, across all locations, is the need of the hour.

Regional Transport Authority 

Regional Transport Authorities exercise and discharge the powers and functions as per the Motor Vehicles Act. The state is divided into regions for implementation of rules and regulations of transport and fees.  

In order to check unauthorized persons driving with forged Licence or without valid Licence, the Government has proposed to automate the process of issuing Driving Licence to all bonafide applicants. This media to be issued to the applicant's needs to be rugged, counterfeit proof and supported by biometric security features.  

To keep control on drivers for breach of laws such as over speeding, rash driving etc Central Flying Squad has been created in the Directorate.

The parameters for a Driving Licence:                                                

• ·        Driver's Identity- Photograph and other physical identity.

• ·        Licence authentication.

• ·        Rugged and secure media

• ·        Counterfeit proof

• ·        Processing capability.

• ·        Electronic approval while reading/writing data  

Drawbacks in the existing System: 

• §         Paper based Licence,  susceptible to mutilation

• §         Cumbersome process of checking especially a mutilated Licence

• §         Difficult to detect forgeries

• §         Low degree of automation

• §         No centralized database for tracking fine collection. 

Solution to overcome these drawbacks: 

• §         A fully automated and secure driving Licence issuance procedure.

• §         Facility to store and retrieve information using a highly secure media

• §         Efficient data storage and retrieval capability

• §         On road Penalty collection and recording mechanism.

• §         Verification of counterfeit driving Licence with the central database.

 Case against a simple PVC card 

• §         No processing capability

• §         Photograph and other particulars can be easily be counterfeited.

• §         No storage capacity and hence not possible to store information on penalty etc.

 IC CHIP CARD with SCOSTA Operating System

The IC Chip Card is the size of a standard plastic credit card with an embedded computer chip. The chip holds various types of information in electronic form with sophisticated security mechanisms. There are two types of IC Chip Cards viz., contact IC Chip Cards and contact-less IC Chip Cards. The contact IC Chip Cards can be further divided as memory and microprocessor cards that need to be inserted into a reader for operation. These cards have a small gold chip called the micro module. When the card is inserted into an IC Chip Card reader, it makes contact with electrical connectors that transfer data to and from the chip. The contacts IC Chip Cards look like a plastic credit card with the computer chip and antenna coil inside and need to be brought near an antenna for operation.

 The IC Chip Card used for a driving Licence application the following information:

 The Licence Holder information viz., Name, Address, Age, Photo, fingerprint, Signature, vehicle endorsement and any other required details. The card can be stored with information on any Penalties and offences, if applicable.

 The eye readable area (the surface) can hold the personal particulars, photograph, signature of the holder, signature of the issuing authority, period of validity etc. 

Benefits of IC Chip Card  

More Secure:            IC Chip cards offer a unique card serial no., a unique card issuer identification code and an authentication code. Besides, the chip technology makes it impossible to distort any stored information. The card can also hold biometrics information like fingerprint etc.

 Read/Write Memory: Data can be written and read by using a handheld reader/writer. The stored data can also be downloaded to a computer system. 

Processing capability: The IC Chip cards have processing capabilities enabling to update in real time, information regarding cardholder's status. 

Chip card and the driving Licence  

• Ü Identification of the driver and of the Licence

• Ü Storage of the driver's fines and accidents

The mobile squads can  

• ·        Authenticate the D.L.  by reading the card references written in the memory (Chip Media)

• ·        Write the new offence (e.g., non-renewal of tax, insurance etc) in memory of the card using the smart card reader/writer.

• ·        At the end of the day/shift, all data related to offences and fine collected, stored in the smart Card reader/writer, are downloaded to the nearest office. This data is further transmitted to the central database through the communication network  

Police terminal - Usage scenario 

To control driving Licence, police personnel needs specific handheld readers, equipped with a security module, stored and loaded at the police station. This terminal helps to:  

• ·        Control the name and general information of the driver.

• ·        Control the validity of the Licence (date of validity, all fines are paid).

• ·        Add a new fine (nature, date, and place).

• ·        Add a new accident record (nature, date, and place). 

For the two last operations, data are written in the memory of the driver Licence, and in the memory of the terminal. When the Policeman comes back to the police station, they will download data from the terminal to the fine management system database.

For each fine, it will transfer: 

• ·        Name and identification number of the driver.

• ·        Nature, date, amount to be paid, number and place of the offense.

• ·        Name and number of identification of the policeman. 

For each accident, it will transfer:

• ·        Name, identification number and level of responsibility of the driver.

• ·        Nature, date and place of the accident.

• ·        Number of people dead/injured.

• ·        Name and identification number of the policeman. 

Payment terminal - usage scenario 

To pay a fine, a driver has to present their driving Licence to a dedicated place. The Licence is inserted into a fine payment terminal; the driver then chooses the fine they want to pay for and then pay for it. The driving Licence is updated (flag of payment becomes ‘PAID’) by the application software run by the payment terminal. This payment transaction incorporates the following: 

• ·        Name and identification number of the driver.

• ·        Number and value of the fine collected.

• ·        Name, date and identification number of the authorized place. 

Payment of fine: 

Each time a driver commits an offence, on top of the normal procedure of identity control and validity of the document (global level control), a policeman will record the new fine in the driving Licence (local management). The card is used to store data about all the offenses of the driver. To pay for the attached fines, the driver should go to dedicated points of fine payment. When the fine is paid, using traditional means of payment, the corresponding offence record in the card is updated as 'Paid'. (There is no money stored into the card, just data about fact that whether the fine has been paid or not). Without any on-line connection to the database, a policeman is able to find out whether the driver has committed subsequent offenses, and if the fines have been paid or not. The policeman can then take appropriate action such as taking away the driving Licence. A backup of data stored in the Licence is also available in the local authority database, to be able to reissue a Licence in case of loss, robbery or damage.

 At regular intervals (once or twice a day), the mobile police will download the data to the nearest ARTO/DRTO, from where all transactions are transmitted to the central database. Via the network.The IC Chip card is used to store driving Licence data, allowing off-line control by police personnel or authorized entities. Driving Licence data are organized in 5 groups according following functions: 

ID-card/application function

  Identify the authenticity of the card. Data is stored in the card during production and pre-personalized stage made by the Manufacturer. 

ID-driver function: card holder identification  

• ·        Identify the driver of the driving Licence:

• ·        Photograph

• ·        Finger print identification

• ·        Full name of the driver

• ·         Address of the driver

• ·        Date /Place of birth 

ID-driving function  

•        Identify the category of driving Licence (Permanent, learner et

•   Type of endorsement (with gear, without gear, LCV

•  Driving Licence number

•   Date of expiry 

ID-offence function  

·        Read and update the offences. For each offence:

·        Offence control data for recovery

·        Police station or policeman's identifier

·        Offence place identifier

·        Offence number

·        Kind of offence

·        Offence date 

ID-accident function  

• Accident control data

• Police station or policeman's identifier

• Accident date

• Driver responsibility

The data entered by the mobile squad is simultaneously updated in the chip and the terminal. At the end of the day/shift, the data pertaining to offences and fine collected, stored in the smart card terminal are downloaded into the computer system. The updated database is then transmitted to the central database via the communication network.

Some of the details of system level security are highlighted below: 

• Login is through Smart card based ID card

• Each RTO employee card is verified using biometrics for each login.

• Each RTO employee is permitted access to only ‘Allowed Facilities’ based on the permit ions granted to him. Authorized superiors can change these permissions only.

• Each activity of each employee is logged and reports generated. 

  Existing system and migration to advanced Management Information System  

  In the present system, the Transport Department is issuing paper based or PVC Card based Driving Licence. The procedure for issue of DL is well defined and has trained staff for implementing various government procedures. However, due to non-secure media, lack of proper communication and non-existing Information Management System, the system is prone to Frauds, mall practices and corruption apart from being inefficient. The existing paper or PVC Card based system results into large revenue loss to the government apart from inconvenience to public and encouragement to corruption and frauds.

  Benefits 

  By replacing the conventional paper based Dl book by a Smart Card, following are the benefits. 

•   The entire process of issuance is speeded up as it is computerized which reduces the data processing time.

•   Better Management with focus on public convenience.

•   The Smart card is durable, waterproof, can withstand high temperature, electromagnetic fields and is scratch proof.

•   The Smart card is the size of a credit card, which makes it easy to be carried along with the person.

•   The Smart card is a highly secure card and tamper proof with password protections. Only the authorized personnel are allowed to access the RC information. This feature will eliminate any fraudulent practices and ensure the security of the information on the smart card.

•   Eliminating middlemen/agents.

•   Efficient data storage and retrieval capability.

•   On road penalty checking. This is now possible as the inspector with the hand held terminal can read data from the card, which is presented to him by the vehicle driver.

•   Apprehend defaulters for evading tax payment.

•   The different MIS reports pertaining to penalties, tax and fee collected at any RTO, checkpost on a weekly, monthly, yearly basis can be made available immediately in the proposed system. The authorized official has to select (query based) the Report format based on which the system will automatically generate the report and a printout of the same will be made available.