How to make the pcscd daemon load at startup on Lion?
The problem happens, because securityd (which is supposed to load pcscd) does not start it when you insert your card. Try editing /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.securityd.plist and add -s aggressive switch.

The section should look like this:

&lt;array&gt;
  &lt;string&gt;/usr/sbin/securityd&lt;/string&gt;
  &lt;string&gt;-i&lt;/string&gt;
  &lt;string&gt;-s&lt;/string&gt;
  &lt;string&gt;aggressive&lt;/string&gt;
&lt;/array&gt;


and then reboot.

This should set securityd in aggressive card detection mode. If there is a -s off or anything like this, probably just removing it should solve your problem.

Hope this helps.