According to a recent report, Thailand’s law enforcement announced the launch of an app which can be used by motorists to enable them to show their license credentials to any law enforcement officer in Thailand.
This means riders and drivers no longer need to carry their physical licences around constantly. The police will be able to scan a QR code and check all details including bans or outstanding fines, on the spot.
The driver’s profile also includes vital information such as blood type, allergies and location. These digital driving licenses are now available for both cars and motorbikes. The application is called ‘DLT QR Licence’. However, another report noted that the police will not be accepting the new smartphone driving licence just yet.
The Royal Thai Police stated that they will not recognise the app which can display a driver’s digital licence on their smartphone until a legal amendment is in place.
They say that failing to show a physical driving ID will still result in a fine under the current laws.
According to the Major General, The Royal Thai Police has already notified the Department of Land Transport and asked them to delay the use of digital driving licenses until legal amendments are completed. The Maj. Added that legal support of the new digital licence ID is included in an amendment to the current traffic laws which will be deliberated by the interim parliament this week.
On another matter, people uploading the new App this morning have discovered (hardly surprising) that the app is entirely in the Thai language, partially locking out non-Thai speaking users because they can’t navigate the prompts.
Hopes are that the app will soon have an English option.
This move (i.e., the design, development and launch of the app) prove that Thailand is making stride to achieve some of its ASEAN Industry 4.0 Plan goals. An earlier report noted that Thailand’s aim is to drive the region forward by laying emphasis on the development of industry 4.0 under the main theme of “advancing partnership for sustainability”, according to the region’s Commerce Minister, who will chair the meeting of ASEAN’s economic ministers in April 2019.
The Minister spoke at the “Special Session on the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR)” seminar in Bangkok recently, organised by the ministry’s Department of Trade Negotiations.
It was noted that the ASEAN region had a combined GDP at almost US$2.7 trillion in 2017, four times the value in 2000. The GDP growth in the ASEAN region has clocked an average rate of 5.3 per cent since 2000, according to the ASEAN secretary-general, who added that at this rate, ASEAN is set to be the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2030.
ASEAN members will need to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the 4th industrial revolution (4IR) technologies to maintain this fast rate of growth, he said.
Thailand has carefully chosen its priority economic deliverables for the ASEAN chairmanship, recognising the importance of the 4IR, this topic features prominently in our priority economic deliverables with five out of 12 deliverables focusing on this issue alone, the Commerce Minister stated during his keynote speech
