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California Begins Trial Rollout of Digital License Plates (caranddriver.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Car and Driver: California is taking its first steps toward America's first digital license plate. Using display technology akin to the e-ink used in the Amazon Kindle, a Foster City, California, outfit called Reviver Auto has come up with a digital plate that is now available on a limited basis in California, with the first fleet trial taking place on a fleet of 24 City of Sacramento -- owned Chevrolet Volt cars wearing plates supplied at no cost by Reviver. The new monochrome units -- which were also just rolled out in Dubai -- comply with reflectivity standards and are GPS enabled, allowing owners to track a stolen vehicle or at least its plate.
Owners accustomed to an otherwise-paperless lifestyle will appreciate that, thanks to the Reviver's Rplate Pro, registration can be paid via the internet, assuring that one never has to make a last-minute trip to the DMV's no-appointment Hell Line. It should also be a boon to companies with large fleets. What's more, it's easy to upgrade to a special-interest plate if one chooses to do so.
Owners accustomed to an otherwise-paperless lifestyle will appreciate that, thanks to the Reviver's Rplate Pro, registration can be paid via the internet, assuring that one never has to make a last-minute trip to the DMV's no-appointment Hell Line. It should also be a boon to companies with large fleets. What's more, it's easy to upgrade to a special-interest plate if one chooses to do so.
"GPS enabled"
Guess we don't have to worry much about license plate readers if folks are willing to have a(nother)* GPS attached to them at all times.
Do folks really not think about the alternate applications of such gadgetry before they welcome them with open arms ?
*Smartphone attached to your hip being the other one.
Too many people in IT think its about the Technology but IT is about the Information.
The project seems to connect registration with the tag yet most places let you type in a tag number and pay online. That is an expected information flow.
I also wonder how these will work in accidents. The tag numbers are usually the way of identifying the owners of the cars.
State mandated tracking device...
Registrations in California already happen online. That's stupid.
More fucking spyware. Makes one wish for a massive solar flare...
Congrats car & driver, you only had 2 years to implement GDPR, and it really isn't hard at all unless you are doing pretty screwed up things. I could read the google cache at least in order to discover the utter ridiculousness of $700 license plates with a $7 monthly fee! I guess you pay all that for the privilege of the state tracking you. I wonder who makes these plates, that's some serious state gov connections to get it going even at the pilot level.
Even without the tracking aspect, digital plates are the worst idea - a fender bender becomes expensive and/or could leave you with a non working plate, plates in general will certainly be harder to read and can potentially stop working, etc etc...
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
That explains the entire project, as there is no reason whatsoever to have an e-ink license plate.
Having a GPS system that the government can use to track your car though... that is something that they have a use for.
Why the blue fuck would someone pay that much money to trade away their privacy and have a plate that's more easily damaged. If they want the GPS tracking that badly (i.e. are cowards), just hide a cheap smartphone with a pre-pay data plan somewhere in the car.
Owners accustomed to normal steel license tags will appreciate not having to pay $7/month for a digital tag. I mean really, get a notice in the mail once a year, mail in some money and a few weeks later put a sticker on my license tag. Once a year.
I can't wait: "thanks to the Reviver's Rplate Pro, registration can be paid via the internet". Maybe, maybe if they would have said I could pay for it with "an app" I'd be sold. But really, almost all tag renewals can already be paid "via the internet", and they just mail you your replacement tag/decals. If CA can't do this today, start?
Hacker heaven!
What's the use case for an e-ink license plate?
--Jim (me)
I wonder how long until someone hacks it with goatse.
by mile is hard across lines and it may kill toll roads.
also do you want rent cars to have forced admin fees?
last-minute trip to the DMV's no-appointment Hell Line
Where I live (SF Bay area), there's a DMV office inside several AAA offices.
I go to my local AAA office to do DMV stuff like renewing my car registration. I give them the DMV registration notice and a check, then they give me the registration slip and sticker for my car, and I'm done. No appointment, and the line usually isn't long.
However if you need to take an eye test or a driver's test, you still need to go to the DMV.
TFS makes things sound all unicorns and rainbows, but farther down TFA things get a little muddy -- which make me think the editors didn't read it through:
We also expect them to be targets for vandalism in San Francisco and Oakland. After all, it’s basically akin to putting Google Glass on one’s car, or, at the very least, a sign reading “Kick me, I’m the reason your landlord’s evicting you.”
The units are also expensive. ... a Reviver setup will run you $699 for the digital plates, plus about $7 a month in recurring fees. That’s a pretty steep gouge just to trade away what little privacy you have left in exchange for not having to check the mail and place a fiddly little decal on your plate once every 12 months.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
What real purpose if there of having the plate be eink? People don't change their plate numbers that often. In fact most plates are good for about 10 years, thats about how long the reflective coating from 3m that is used on most steel plates lasts. I cant imagine the reflective coating/backing on this thing lasting any longer which means its going to have to be replaced every now and then. If 3m can't figure out how to make it last longer with the constant UV exposure i doubt some startup tech company will.
And only just now being able to pay online?!?! WTF California! We have been able to do that in a state that you californians would probably call backwards hillbilly swamp (Florida) for at least a decade and a half if not longer. Florida will mail you your plate and renewal stickers after having paid online.
If anything Florida is a state where this could be interesting, since we are the state with the most custom plates that you can get for choosing to pay a surcharge that goes to the charity that came up with the plate design. Come out with a color eink version and you could change the charity you support every couple months without needing to get a new steel plate issued. Does california even have custom plates like this? I seem to never see anything other than the standard california plate on cars.
https://www.myfloridaspecialtyplate.com/gallery.html
"GPS enabled"
Whoooop there it is whooop there it is.
just to get my registration and haven't in decades. And in my neck of the woods we just passed laws requiring the DMV be properly funded and that you couldn't steal money intended for the DMV and stuff it in the general fund. After that the problem was solved. And that was decades ago too. The last time I needed a new license picture (lost my hair) it took 30 minutes during peak hours.
The DMV only sucks in "Starve the Beast" places that intentionally under fund government services so they can point and say "See! We told you government's the problem!". No shit when you set it up to fail on purpose it fails.
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Stolen cars are going to have the gps tracked plate ripped off, maybe chucked in the back of a random pickup to throw off authorities.
Where I'm from a car gets a plate when you first register it, when the registration runs out you pay for a renewal and keep the existing plate. They post a new label to put in the windscreen when you renew online.
As for vanity plates, it'll be cheaper for them to switch it but you can bet they'll charge you more for the "convenience" of OTA updates.
why? nothing wrong with analog license plates, if anything remove the fucking registration stickers.
Once these become ubiquitous, California will more easily be able to implement their proposed Tax on miles driven.
Issuing new plates every year is idiotic which is why most states (and countries) use registration stickers. This product is only 'useful' where plates are issued annually, or new stickers must be put on an entire fleet of vehicles.
With an e-ink screen, upgrading to a 'stolen' plate will be even easier. Or, editing the plate to show next year's registration sticker, for free, will be a priority for criminals.
The term you're thinking of is "solution in search of a problem."
Next think you know, they'll add blockchain technology. Oh, and they'll probably find a way to use waterproof tape somewhere, in case your bumper springs a leak.
What they don't mention is it draws power from the car battery, so you cannot leave the car parked and go on long holidays because it flattens the battery fast.
And you cannot unplug the battery because then the car would be without valid plates and towed away.
What a sad piece of shit tech.
"Sorry, this content is not available in your region." The shit is ridiculous, I don't understand why they would block EU users from viewing their content.
Trolls are like broken clocks. They show the truth two times a day. The rest of the day they talk nonsense.
Aside from the implications of the built-in GPS tracker, do note that the plates are designed to show advertising. They show the full-sized number while the vehicle is in motion, but when stopped, the number can be reduced in size, shoved in a corner, and the rest of the plate used to display ads. At the moment, for corporate fleets, the idea is for the corporation to display whatever they want. It won't be long before private plates also become advertising platforms.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
A solution in search of a problem. A problem manufactured by some politically-sleazy individuals who happened to be connected with officials in high places in order to manufacture a demand for their "cure". Hard pass.
I have a land line, they'll NEVER find me. SUCKERS!!!
1 less job for prisoners; stamping license plates
doh...
What a backward people you are.
We have one plate, on a car, it stays on that car pretty much for its life.
You then pay "road tax" (not actually true, but that's what it's called by people), online, verified with your recent vehicle test results, that you're insured on the insurance databases etc. and if you fail to do so, any police car with ANPR will flag you as you drive past, certain places (like London's congestion charging zones) will check your plate as you drive through, any traffic warden knows you're not up-to-date, and your car can be towed away.
No stickers. Nothing to "steal" / "forge". No new plates. No chips inside plates. No offline process necessary (but you can still do it in any ordinary post office like for the past 50 years).
I thought America was supposed to be at the forefront of technology and progress?
" The city says it will not use the plates to track workers. "
Am I the only one who tacked on "for now" to the end of it?
Side note: Anyone want to start a pool on how long it is before one of these plates gets hacked?
Have gnu, will travel.
Its not like the license plate number changes on a regular basis so why do they need to have an LCD/e-ink display?
It also isn't necessary to have a digital license plate to do online registration of the vehicle. Ontario (and I assume a vast number of other areas) has had the ability to do online renewals of registration for years.
I thought all license plates were already digital, encoded in base 36 or something close to that.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
I can already pay my registration over the internet with my plain old metal plate.
I am a techie AND a car guy. I live in Montana and one of the things I like about it here (I am from Los Angeles) is that we have no vehicle inspections and once a vehicle is 10 years old we can get permanent registration which costs about $120. Never have to register again.
As for all that technology in vehicles today, none of my 6 cars was built during this century. Somehow I get by just fine, even without all those cup holders some of you can't seem to live without.
All I see from the article is " it will cost a lot, and we will charge you a monthly fee to do what you do now for free. The benefit is it saves the DMV time and effort".
If so, why are the end users paying for it?
The number of ways this is open to abuse is mind-boggling....
Ferret
Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
My last car lasted 15 years before the engine died and the cost to replace the engine was not worth the trouble. The plates are still in great condition, not even a speck of rust, and could easily be re-used. How long will these digital plates last outdoors, particularly in a state with a temperature swing of 140F between Summer and Winter.
registration can be paid via the internet, assuring that one never has to make a last-minute trip to the DMV's no-appointment Hell Line.
What moron actually goes into DMV to pay car registration? I've been paying online for about the last 10? 15? years? It's been so long that I've forgotten when I started paying that way. And what this has to do with a waste-of-money 'digital' license plate is beyond me.
Asking for my boss Gavin Belson.
Just wait until someone hacks these to display whatever plate number they want - like Mark Zuckerberg's plate when you are running a red light....
How many days until the hackers figure out how to crack this thing? Once you can display any ol' license plate number you want, what good is an ALPR? It's a criminal's wet dream. Imagine your getaway car can change the plate number every minute.
J
I was just about to go world wide with my license plate switcher (James bond style of course) and they have to one up me with an electronic version that only requires bits to be changed and no mechanical process!
Seriously though, how long until one of these gets torn down and hacked? How do they communicate to the government agency required to manage all of the plates? can the signals be replicated locally?
It seems like all of the benefits of an authority having use for these plates goes away with a couple of bits. if you know you have one of these plates it doesnt seem like it would be too hard to disable the gps as well as any other communications and then use custom silicon to drive the display thus allowing criminals an upper-hand. I mean the only saving grace is that the communication protocols are unknown for now but how long will that last? how long until people are able to spoof the communications from another valid tag.
Technology is a tool to be used for good or evil, always be aware of unintended consequences!
What problem does this address?
I can pay for my registration online now. The only time I go to the DMV office is to get a new photo taken for my drivers license -- that's once every ten years. Plus, my metal license plate probably cost lest than $10 to make and will last longer than the car.
Sorry, SillyConman Valley, but this is one bit of 'disruption' that only you morons are going to be adopting.