California driver’s licenses are getting yet another redesign with new security measures — but motorists don’t have to race to their nearest DMV office to update theirs.
Starting Wednesday, newly issued driver’s license and identification cards will include additional features, including a first-in-the-nation digital signature, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
The driver’s license or ID in your wallet is still valid until the expiration date.
“While I know some of our customers will want the new version of the driver’s license, there is no need to replace an existing license or identification card until your current one expires,” said DMV Director Steve Gordon.
The fee for renewing your driver’s license remains at $45. An ID renewal is $39.
What’s changed for the license and ID
Say goodbye to the gold miner, agricultural lands, sailboats and the shape of the Golden State shown on the backgrounds of existing driver’s licenses.
The new design includes California’s redwoods, poppies and coastline.
What hasn’t changed is the REAL ID symbol, which is a golden bear with a star in the upper-right corner.
New security features
The new cards use “next-generation technology to enhance security,” including anti-counterfeit measures, Gordon said.
The DMV has added a digital security signature to one of the two bar codes on the back of the cards.
The magnetic strip on the back of the old driver’s license and ID has been removed in this redesign.
Why is there another update to the California ID?
California driver’s license and identification cards are updated periodically to improve security, according to DMV officials.
The last time the card had a new design and security features was in 2010.
The look of the card was changed in 2018 with the implementation of REAL ID, which upgraded the security measures needed to fly on domestic airlines and enter federal buildings. It was a program that was first proposed after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Secure, AI-powered SaaS product helps federal agencies modernize vetting and meet Trusted Workforce mandates
FAIRFAX, Va., July 30, 2025 (Newswire.com)
– Chainbridge Solutions today announced the launch of Perseus™, a secure, cloud-native SaaS product engineered to accelerate personnel security (PERSEC) workflows and help federal agencies meet Trusted Workforce 2.0 requirements. The launch marks a significant expansion of Chainbridge Solutions’ PERSEC solution suite, which supports modern, mission-ready personnel vetting operations across government.
With over 10,000 Trusted Workforce enrollments supported to date, Chainbridge Solutions brings deep implementation experience and proven federal insights to the design of Perseus™. Informed by real-world challenges, the platform offers full-lifecycle case management in one centralized, intuitive system – from intake through adjudication and continuous vetting.
“Perseus™ reflects the heart of our mission: to build software that keeps people safe,” said Aarti Smith, Founder and CEO of Chainbridge Solutions. “We’ve seen how outdated tools slow teams down and expose agencies to risk. We built Perseus™ to change that – giving personnel security teams the speed, intelligence, and clarity they need to protect the mission.”
Perseus™ incorporates a suite of AI-powered capabilities, including natural language search, automated adjudication report generation, risk scoring, and intelligent vetting alert triage. These tools reduce manual workload, improve visibility, and support faster, more confident decision-making.
“Perseus™ helps agencies manage complexity with greater speed and precision,” said Stephen Bailey, Chief Technology Officer. “By combining a resilient, cloud-native architecture with applied AI, we’ve built a product that matches the urgency and scale of today’s personnel security landscape.”
Built for real-world use, Perseus™ is modular, configurable, and aligned with how PERSEC teams actually work. The platform is hosted in AWS GovCloud, built following NIST 800-218, and on the path to FedRAMP certification.
Its launch comes as federal agencies prepare to enroll all Non-Sensitive Public Trust (NSPT) personnel into Trusted Workforce 2.0 by the end of FY25.
Perseus™ is now available for federal agency deployment.
A new bill introduced before the D.C. Council on Monday would address the rise in moped use in the city by implementing point-of-sale regulations regarding registration.
A new bill introduced before the D.C. Council on Monday would address the rise in moped use in the city by implementing point-of-sale regulations regarding registration.
“Residents throughout the District have seen a rapid increase in the number of mopeds, many of them used for food delivery. This presents both an opportunity and some challenges — mopeds are better for the environment and for traffic safety than cars, but without proper oversight, some drivers are flouting rules and creating dangerous situations without accountability,” Nadeau’s office said in a news release.
The bill would require companies that rent out mopeds to register their fleet. Companies that sell mopeds would be required to provide written notice of a vehicle’s classification and registration requirements to potential buyers before selling a vehicle.
According to D.C. law, similar looking vehicles fall into different classifications, such as motorcycles, motor-driven cycles and motorized bicycles, depending on factors including maximum speed and engine size.
Each vehicle class has its own rules on registration, insurance and where they can be operated, and according to Nadeau’s office, her bill would also forbid the practice of mislabeling vehicles at the point of sale in order to circumvent legal requirements.
“We are working to bring some order to the moped food delivery industry and hold sellers, renters, and operators of mopeds accountable,” Nadeau said in the news release.
She also told WTOP she hopes the bill can make it easier for consumers to purchase the vehicles while complying with the law.
“The goal here is to make it more like the car buying experience, where the dealership puts in your paperwork with the [Department of Motor Vehicles] and then you wait for it to come in the mail and not drive off the lot with your vehicle unregistered,” Nadeau said.
“This is about registering the vehicle with the DMV, which is already legally required, but it’s hard for us to enforce after the fact. And so getting at that point of sale is really important for broader implementation and broader enforcement.”
WTOP’s Mike Murillo contributed to this report.
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ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — As the state increases efforts to crack down on car thefts, DMV investigators recovered 286 stolen cars valued at nearly $8.6 million and $152,000 in stolen auto parts in 2023. This is nearly twice the amount of parts that were recovered in 2022.
Gov. Kathy Hochul initiated a five-point plan called the Comprehensive Auto-Theft Reduction Strategy (CARS) to combat the increase in auto thefts in New York. This campaign includes:
$5 million toward prevention programs for teens and young adults in the most impacted areas across the state
New York State Police has increased enforcement in high-theft areas
District attorneys will receive federal help in prosecuting a large number of cases
New York launched a new website to provide resources and education to help New Yorkers take precautions against auto theft
The governor and NYS DMV sent a letter to New Yorkers owning a Kia or Hyundai warning them of the increase in theft of their specific cars
The letter advises the owners of these cars of free tools available to prevent their cars from being stolen
According to the state, car thefts increased 67% across New York in 2023, excluding New York City. The National Insurance Crime Bureau released a list of tips on how to prevent auto theft for those concerned with the safety of their cars.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom walked out of the Tesla gigafactory in China last month feeling jazzed about the future.
A future where people do a lot less driving, instead being whisked around by autonomous cars and flying taxis. A future where, he said, the “entire transportation system is completely reorganized.”
“I think it’s going to come very fast,” Newsom said to reporters on the last day of his trip to China promoting clean energy partnerships with California.
“With AI in particular aiding this advancement, I think it’s just going to explode and you’re going to start seeing driverless flying cars as well.”
Newsom made it clear that he’s committed to keeping California the global leader in the development of autonomous technology and said the state shouldn’t “cede the future” to other countries or states.
A tech-friendly, entrepreneurial streak has been one of Newsom’s hallmarks since he entered politics. As lieutenant governor in 2011, he famously set up his San Francisco office in a private hub of tech start-ups. Newsom boasts of having bought one of the first Teslas ever sold, and has had a longstanding relationship with Elon Musk, whom he calls “one of the world’s great innovators.”
But the governor’s effusive comments about autonomous vehicles come as the technology is causing outrage in some California cities, putting Newsom in conflict with many fellow Democrats who are calling for more oversight of the robotic cars on public roads. He’s clashing with mayors and other local officials who want more control over the expansion of robotaxis in their cities, as well as with state lawmakers who believe California’s system for regulating autonomous vehicles is insufficient.
Martha Hubert writes a message opposing robotaxi expansion on Aug. 10 in San Francisco.
(Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)
The friction is growing as autonomous vehicle companies ramp up their lobbying in Sacramento. Cruise, Waymo, Motional and the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Assn. collectively spent about $2.4 million on lobbying the state government in the first nine months of this year — more than three times the $671,579 they spent lobbying in all of last year, according to disclosures filed with the Secretary of State. Much of that increase is due to a huge jump in spending by Waymo, the business owned by Google’s parent company that operates robotaxis in San Francisco and Santa Monica, with plans to expand to other parts of L.A. this month.
Skepticism from local officials has intensified since a Cruise robotaxi dragged a person down a San Francisco street last month, and the company allegedly failed to disclose footage of the wreck. The DMV suspended Cruise’s permits and the General Motors-owned company announced it is suspending U.S. operations while it works to “rebuild public trust.” It recalled its autonomous fleet to perform a software update.
On Nov. 1, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass wrote a fiery letter to state regulators saying the city wants more say in regulating driverless taxis and she criticized the state for a lack of attention to “public safety, road safety, and other serious concerns.”
“To date, local jurisdictions like Los Angeles have had little to no input in AV deployment and are already seeing significant harm and disruption,” Bass wrote to the state Public Utilities Commission, which approved a massive expansion of robotaxis in August.
Newsom appoints the members of the Public Utilities Commission and oversees the Department of Motor Vehicles, the two agencies tasked with regulating autonomous vehicles. He told reporters he agreed with the DMV’s decision to ban Cruise from San Francisco streets following the crash that left a pedestrian seriously injured.
Even before the Cruise debacle, city officials in San Francisco criticized the state’s move to grow the presence of autonomous vehicles. The fire chief complained that robotaxis are a danger to emergency response because they stop in traffic, pull up too close to firetrucks that are unloading equipment and block firehouse driveways. The police officers union also raised concerns about their expansion. After the Public Utilities Commission approved the expansion, San Francisco’s city attorney filed motions asking it to reverse course, which the commission declined to do.
Now a state lawmaker is pressing the DMV for more information on how it permits autonomous vehicles, how it addresses safety concerns and why it suspended Cruise’s permit. The formal inquiry by state Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) could portend hearings or legislation on autonomous vehicles after the Legislature reconvenes in January.
“All of us in public service would like to intervene and prevent things from happening and not have tragedy dictate an acceleration of remedies. But if we don’t hurry that’s what’s going to happen,” Cortese said in an interview.
He said California’s structure of having two agencies tasked with regulating driverless cars is problematic.
“I believe we need a single executive agency that deals with autonomous vehicles much like the FAA deals with air travel, commercial and private,” Cortese said. “We don’t have the infrastructure set up to monitor what’s going on or hold people accountable.”
Newsom defended the state’s oversight during his conversation with reporters outside the Shanghai Tesla plant.
“The DMV has built a whole new shop in terms of organizing around making sure people are safe,” he said. “But autonomy is the future.”
An electric Jaguar I-Pace car outfitted with Waymo full self-driving technology drives through Santa Monica on Feb. 21.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
The DMV launched an investigation in 2021 into whether Tesla falsely markets its autonomous technology. The company brands it as “full self-driving” but California does not regulate Teslas as autonomous vehicles, so the company doesn’t have to report crash data to the state. The DMV’s investigation has yielded no public results in more than 2½ years, to the frustration of some state lawmakers.
The governor also clashed with lawmakers over autonomous vehicles earlier this year when he vetoed a bill to require human safety drivers in self-driving big-rig trucks — a measure that sailed through the Legislature with bipartisan support. Newsom said the bill was unnecessary because of the state’s existing system for regulating the evolving technology.
“DMV continuously monitors the testing and operations of autonomous vehicles on California roads and has the authority to suspend or revoke permits as necessary to protect the public’s safety,” he wrote in the veto message.
Peter Finn, a vice president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which sponsored the bill to require human drivers on autonomous trucks, said the union will keep pushing because both safety and jobs are at stake.
“We’re not backing away from this fight. We’re going to double down in terms of pursuing fair and responsible guardrails to this technology,” he said.
He called Newsom “completely out of touch with California residents” on the issue of autonomous vehicles.
There’s no sign that Newsom’s zeal for automotive innovation will subside. In addition to touring the Shanghai Tesla factory, while in China Newsom test drove a hybrid SUV made by Chinese manufacturer BYD. He took his hands off the wheel and waved to reporters as the car went into automated mode and rotated in a full 360-degree turn.
“This is another leap of the technology. Next level,” Newsom marveled from behind the wheel of the vehicle, which played the Eagles’ song “Hotel California” on the sound system when he turned it on.
Gov. Gavin Newsom test drives an SUV with autonomous features made by BYD during a visit to Shenzhen, China, on Oct. 24.
(Laurel Rosenhall / Los Angeles Times)
The governor said he first experienced driverless technology many years ago during a visit to Google with company founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Four years ago, at the Sears Point raceway in Sonoma County, Newsom said he rode in an “Audi going 160 miles an hour with no one in the driver’s seat.”
Newsom also expressed excitement about aviation innovation underway in California. Drone-like electric planes are being tested across the state by Silicon Valley tech companies pitching the vision of clean, quiet flying taxis to get people off clogged freeways. Two companies, Archer and Joby, plan to launch with pilots while a company called Wisk is developing an autonomous air taxi.
Joby reported hiring a Sacramento lobbying firm for the first time in July, and one of its lobbyists, Michael Picker, is a former president of the Public Utilities Commission, which regulates taxis and rideshare companies.
Asked if he had safety concerns with autonomous technology, the governor echoed industry talking points that human drivers who can get drunk or sleepy behind the wheel are more dangerous than driverless cars.
“I think we’re gonna look back in 20 to 30 years and go, why were we allowed to drive? And allow 30-plus-thousand Americans to die every single year in accidents?” Newsom said. “There’s a precision with the technology, but it has to be worked through. I just think it’s mesmerizing, the change that’s about to come.”
Times staff writer Anabel Sosa contributed to this report.
A business that offers expediting for New York State Department of Motor Vehicle services has opened a new office in Island Park.
HC Reg Service at 3942 Long Beach Road is owned and operated by Joan Cohen, who saves her clients time and money by allowing them to avoid the often difficult and frustrating exercise of the long-dreaded visit to DMV offices.
“The DMV gets a bad rap, but the reality is their staff is professional and service driven,” Cohen said in a company statement. “The problem is the number of drivers they need to serve during the day is overwhelming. That means a trip to the DMV can cause stress, frustration, and the loss of a workday. That’s where we come in.”
Cohen’s clients include executives, fleet owners, ride-share drivers and others who would rather tend to their businesses than spend time at the DMV.
One of her clients is Ed O’Toole, principal of the Edwin J O’Toole Insurance Agency in Long Beach, who believes he and his family members have literally saved thousands of hours by relying on Cohen’s services.
“There are seven of us here who all refer our DMV issues to Joan. Her services have allowed us to stay in front of our clients instead of driving 45 minutes to DMV and then waiting for our turn,” O’Toole said, adding that Cohen “always provides guidance and advice to our clients. We call her the DMV guru.”
A longtime entrepreneur, Cohen has many years of expediting experience. She also owned the Hope’s Land of Candy sweetshop in nearby Oceanside for several years, which closed recently.
Cohen’s expediting fees vary based on the request, ranging from same-day car registrations of $85 to $45 for same-day plate surrenders. For her customers it is a function of “what is my time worth” and how complicated is the transaction at the window that could send you home empty handed with the instruction “come back tomorrow.”
But there are some services she can’t offer.
“There is no way around the fact that obtaining a driver’s license, or related form of ID, requires you to be physically present at the DMV,” Cohen said. “Those identification documents have become nothing less than mandatory for many situations so there is no substitute or no stand in for that specific visit to the DMV.”
