The Seychelles Licensing Authority (SLA) is piloting digital driving licences to give drivers another alternative if they cannot have the physical ones available, a top official said on Friday.

Ronny Antat, chief executive of the SLA told reporters that "It is due to popular demand that the SLA has decided to introduce a digital driving license, which will help drivers to have their license readily available in any eventualities."  

The digital driving license is already available for a pilot period, through the SeyID platform. Users can register online and have their digital licence available on their smartphones.

The full launch of the Seychelles Digital driving license is expected to be done next year to coincide with the SLA celebrating 40 years of service.

Antat says that this service comes after many people complained that it is not always possible for them to have their physical licenses with them as sometimes they have two cars and find that they left their licenses in the other car.

Assistant Superintendent Marcus Jean said the police have welcomed this initiative.

"Many often we have seen that when people are stopped by the police, they have some issues when asked to present their license, citing various reasons. Now, they will all be able to have their licenses available on their smartphones, which will make things easier," said Jean.

The director for software development at the Department of Information Communication and Technology (DICT), Nafissatou Diallo, said that people registering for the digital driving license will not have to go to the SLA office to do so.

"All you have to do is to register for your SeyID on the SeyID website, after which you can download the app and choose to have a digital license," said Diallo, and added that "the app will collect your driving license information directly from the SLA's system, based on your National Identification."

All information on the SeyID app is updated in real time, meaning that should a driver's license no longer be valid, that information will also be displayed, and as soon as it's renewed, the app will update that information as well.