How verification works
How Arthur validates a license.
The three checks
Every driver, every time, three checks.
Every time a driver runs through Arthur, three things happen.
- 01
We read the whole license, not just the front.
The printed text on the front is one data layer. The PDF417 barcode on the back, the same one state troopers scan at the roadside, is another. We pull both and require them to match.
- 02
We check that the document itself is real.
The license has to authenticate against holograms, fonts, layouts, and security features. Our engine is trained on millions of genuine documents and tens of thousands of known fraudulent ones, including AI-generated and manipulated IDs.
- 03
We match the driver to the photo.
A live selfie from the driver, matched against the portrait on the license. Liveness checks make sure it’s a real person in the moment, not a photo of a photo.
A license has to clear all three steps to fully verify. Anything weird flags for review.
The engine under the hood
Built on Microblink.
Arthur runs on Microblink’s BlinkID, the document verification engine used by some of the largest banks, payment companies, and identity platforms in the world.
In March 2026, Microblink published results from a US Department of Homeland Security evaluation, the Remote Identity Validation Rally (RIVR). DHS tested seven leading identity verification vendors under controlled lab conditions using more than 2,000 genuine documents from 23 states and Washington DC alongside thousands of sophisticated fraudulent IDs.
Microblink was the only vendor of seven to meet RIVR’s “high performing” threshold on every measured accuracy metric.
0.88%
False-accept rate
On fraudulent documents (vs. 10% pass bar)
3.15%
False-reject rate
On genuine documents (vs. 10% pass bar)
0.00%
System error rate
Under load
Six of seven competitors failed on at least one critical category. Microblink was the only one balanced across fraud detection, genuine user approval, and operational reliability.
Read the full Microblink press release
This information was determined based on demonstrations and assessments conducted at the Maryland Test Facility as part of the Remote Identity Validation Rally held in 2025 under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement. The views and/or conclusions contained in this material are those of the author(s) and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and do not constitute a DHS endorsement of the equipment tested or evaluated.
What we don’t do, and why
Why we don’t run AAMVA (DMV) checks on every load.
A reasonable question from sophisticated customers: don’t you check the license against the state DMV database?
The dominant fraud pattern in 2026 is real, valid licenses, bought on the dark web, with the portrait swapped. An AAMVA check on one of these licenses will tell you it’s perfect, because all text information on the license will check out. AAMVA is slow, expensive, and missing in key states. (New York, California, Minnesota, and Alaska)
We don't believe it catches modern fraud and therefore can't recommend paying for it.
What’s covered
Everything you need, out of the box.
US, Canada, and Mexico CDLs
Plus every US state DMV-issued license.
Real-time barcode validation
PDF417 on the back of the license, cross-checked against the front.
Document authenticity check
Catches AI-altered, synthetic, and physically tampered IDs.
Live selfie with liveness detection
A real face, in the moment, matched to the license portrait.
Deepfake defense
Powered by Microblink’s Fraud Lab. 100% deepfake detection in DHS-powered testing.
Verification at the dock
The moment of risk is pickup. That’s where Arthur runs the check.