DMV Unveils Touch-Screen Test Prototype

Sacramento - The state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) now is testing an automated, touch-screen version of the driver license knowledge test that may eventually replace the traditional pencil-and-paper exam that has been the department standard since 1927.

The automated system, currently being tested at Sacramento’s Broadway office, should speed up the examination process because it automatically scores the test, eliminating the need for a DMV employee to review the answers and explain the results to the applicant.

“Gov. Schwarzenegger has emphasized using technology as a way of improving customer service,” said Business, Transportation & Housing Agency Secretary Sunne Wright McPeak. “This test program is a great step forward in fulfilling that vision by providing customers with a more efficient testing process.”

The system also gives customers immediate feedback. If a question is answered incorrectly, the program will reveal immediately the appropriate answer. Eventually, the system also could provide DMV’s research and development experts with valuable information that can be used to correlate test results with accident rates.

“Because the system automatically tallies which questions most people get right and wrong, we can change the questions that are too easy, too hard or too confusing,” said DMV Chief Deputy Director Ken Miyao. “That capability could become a valuable learning tool for both the test-taker and the department by helping us change study materials to promote better drivers and safer highways.”

Through randomly selecting questions for each administered test, old-fashioned “cheat sheets” will become worthless. Also, the ease of updating the entire computer system at once will be useful to reflect changes made to law when the Governor signs new legislation.

DMV plans to start testing a similar system at the Hollywood/Cole Avenue office by late December. After a six-month trial period, DMV will evaluate the results of both systems to determine the level of customer acceptance.