California Is Trialling Bizarre Digital Number Plates
California and the city of Sacramento are trialling digital number plates that not only cost a small fortune, but, bizarrely, can also display advertising to passers-by.
The technology, which works in the same way as Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite, is hooked up to the Internet and is designed to make the processes of registering cars and changing number plates easier. We imagine that tech-savvy car criminals are laughing into their morning Cheerios.
At present the digital plates are a $699 option with participating dealerships in the West Coast state. You also have to pay a $7 per month fee. For your trouble and expenditure, you apparently also have to agree to be location-tracked and have unspecified advertising displayed on the plate when the car is parked.
Yep, you could return to your ride to find an ad for El Pollo Loco in place of your registration number. The number itself shrinks to the top corner until you start the car again. Alternatively, traffic info can be displayed, presumably telling people walking back to their own cars that there’s a jam somewhere nearby.
A maximum of 175,000 cars can be fitted with the new plates, but we have to admit it all seems a bit of a waste of money. Traffic apps and sat-navs can already warn of congestion, and these plates don’t even look difficult to steal. The UK’s Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) says it has no plans to even look at the scheme.
Source: Autocar
Comments
I gotta admit…
That’s actually kinda cool!
cool, but pointless
Its abysmally stupid, rather. The very fact that they would even consider putting ads on it it’s the cherry on top of the insult
😂
Nice joke buddy,but that ain’t fun at all 😀👌
Yeh… paying to let someone else advertise their shit on your car and make money off of it… thank f#ck the DVLA aren’t even considering this
Apart from the pricing, advertising and eventual security threats, I agree! It is a cool luxury to have if you have some extra money to spend, and I actually like the “Stolen” notification and wish that there is a more subtle and secure way to somehow implement this
I don’t like any license plate that would track my movement. I can already see the police tracking cars just to give out traffic violation tickets in the mail
Never get a new car then or never come to portugal.
Because the goverment will do anything for citizen’s money
They already do that
Its pointless. Hackers can hack there numberplates to feature somebody esles. This means the hacker can violate traffic rules .and the ticket goes to the i innocent guy whose plate was stolen
This is 100% true
The tracking part can probably prevent that because you can show your car was not in that location
This sounds like something from a Fast & Furious movie.
Will it work??
Whats powering these? Is it an internal battery or will it hook into the car’s battery? What happens if the battery dies? Do you not have a license plate now?
I’m all for new technology that is an improvement on an old version but this one seems to open up a possibility for a lot more problems than it is attempting to solve.
What is this thing even trying to solve?
It uses technology similar to Kindle books
So it only needs power when switching between showing different things
And when the picture doesnt move it doesnt need any power
So a regular cell battery would last a year
Sounds like Xzibit is running their DMV
I tough they looked like this:
The goverment will do anything for citizen’s money
Yh lmao. And because these plates are tracked the police can probably track your speed and ticket you
WHAT ARE THE UPSIDES TO THIS?! WHY?!
typical California rules made by communist government