About 11,000 California motorists are being ordered to retake the state’s written driver’s license exam after the Department of Motor Vehicles said it discovered irregularities in a batch of test results.Drivers who received notification letters have 30 days to pass the knowledge exam again or risk having their licenses canceled, according to the DMV.The agency said it uncovered “anomalies” during a routine review of testing records but has declined to explain what triggered the action. Officials would not say whether the issue stemmed from suspected cheating, a technical malfunction, administrative errors, or another problem. The DMV has also not specified whether the affected exams were taken online, in person, or both.
“Ensuring the integrity of our testing process is essential,” a DMV spokesperson said in a statement. “Knowledge tests play a critical role in confirming that drivers understand the rules of the road before they are licensed to drive in California.”The letters state that recipients’ test results indicated “non-compliance with the driver testing criteria required by the California Vehicle Code” and that their licenses were therefore issued in error.For many drivers, the notices have raised more questions than answers.David Specht, a 36-year-old Sacramento resident, said he took the written test in January after moving to California from Chicago. When the letter came last month, he initially feared the DMV believed he had cheated because he completed the exam quickly.“I know I didn’t cheat,” Specht told the Los Angeles Times. “And I presume many of the other 11,000 residents of California who received the letter also didn’t cheat.”After calling the DMV for clarification, Specht said he was told only that thousands of other people had received similar notices.“They said a lot of people received it. We don’t really have an answer for you,” he added. “They didn’t accuse me of cheating directly.”Instead, Specht suspects the problem may lie with the DMV’s own systems.“My other thought is that something is wrong with their system on the back end,” he said. “Maybe they botched some data, and now they can’t tell who passed, who failed.”The DMV confirmed that the affected drivers took their written exams between July 2025 and April 2026. Anyone who receives one of the notices must schedule an appointment to retake the test within 30 days. Walk-in appointments will not be accepted, and drivers are instructed to bring the notification letter. The agency has not released a county-by-county list, but state and local news outlets have reported that people in Sacramento, San Francisco, Santa Monica, and San Mateo are receiving notices.The unexpected requirement has frustrated many recipients, who say they already passed the exam and have been given little explanation for why they are now being asked to prove themselves again.“It’s a major headache for people who maybe don’t have reliable transportation,” Specht said. “A single parent raising a kid, they have to take time off work, they have to get childcare. It just seems like if that’s our system, it isn’t really working for us.”NEWSOM BETS CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT ON TRUMP-SCRUTINIZED ANTHROPIC AILast week, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) unveiled a new agreement between California and Anthropic to expand the use of the company’s AI assistant, Claude, across state agencies. According to the governor’s office, the DMV has already begun using the technology to streamline customer service and help shorten wait times.The DMV has not said whether its use of artificial intelligence played any role in the warning letters recently sent to thousands of drivers.
