Digital Connected License Plates? "As low as $19.95 a month." Anyone game for this tech?

[qellman32]

There are digital License Plates that are legal to use in all 50 states, but is not associated with the DMV/Secretary of State. It represents a normal plate (that you still have to renew through the DMV, but you can update your registration through your phone. There's even a Dark Mode! I think this would look excellent on the Z with a custom display, but there's a catch... There's an "as low as $19.95 A MONTH" subscription, renewed every 48 months.

Thoughts?

 

[Heavy Dupree]

Exactly what everyone needs.....more digital surveillance.

 

[West Aussie]

This what the new Coles grocery stores in Aus are now using for price tags. So instead of removing, printing and replacing they just tap and change.
I don’t get the appeal for a licence that will most likely never change …or if it does maybe once, especially at $280 a year

 

[Donalex]

There are digital License Plates that are legal to use in all 50 states, but is not associated with the DMV/Secretary of State. It represents a normal plate (that you still have to renew through the DMV, but you can update your registration through your phone. There's even a Dark Mode! I think this would look excellent on the Z with a custom display, but there's a catch... There's an "as low as $19.95 A MONTH" subscription, renewed every 48 months.

Thoughts?

Legal to use as in if you're in one of three states where you can register them, you can drive in other states...

RPlates are 100% street legal to drive anywhere across the U.S. – as well as across North American borders into Canada and Mexico – when purchased and registered in approved states. Currently, digital plates are approved for sale to vehicle owners in Arizona, California, and Michigan. We are working quickly to expand this map of states where you can purchase RPlate.

 

[Beard]

All the star wars quotes haha, they know their audience. Cool idea, can't see the appeal myself.

 

[takemorepills]

I prefer my plates to be stamped out by incarcerated people.

Somehow I think tech like this just makes Chinese companies richer.

Oh, and the "stolen" display..... Won't help. Criminals know nobody is coming after them, no matter what cameras are looking at them, or if the digital plate is outing them.

Heck, my wife just notified me that the tags on my Q60 are expired by 9 months. Never got pulled over.....

 

[MHockey17]

Oh, and the "stolen" display..... Won't help. Criminals know nobody is coming after them, no matter what cameras are looking at them, or if the digital plate is outing them.

Heck, my wife just notified me that the tags on my Q60 are expired by 9 months. Never got pulled over.....

Sure it would; Police aren’t able to scan every car they pass in traffic while on patrol, but a license plate that essentially says "PICK ME" would certainly catch their attention for stolen vehicles (or potentially those with expired tags ). I think that's about the only useful feature for a digital plate, other than on-demand personalization.

Problem is though, I'd imagine most car thiefs would adapt to just swap the digital plates with something else, maybe even their own digital plate w/o the "stolen" banner

 

[StrikeS30]

https://www.autoweek.com/news/technology/a42444153/california-digital-license-plates-hacked/

 

[takemorepills]

Sure it would; Police aren’t able to scan every car they pass in traffic while on patrol, but a license plate that essentially says "PICK ME" would certainly catch their attention for stolen vehicles (or potentially those with expired tags ). I think that's about the only useful feature for a digital plate, other than on-demand personalization.

Problem is though, I'd imagine most car thiefs would adapt to just swap the digital plates with something else, maybe even their own digital plate w/o the "stolen" banner

Criminals don't care about technology, because nobody enforces the laws (at least where I live) they have cameras in stores that display the video of the thief stealing....so what? Doesn't help.

I drove several months with an expired tag. I never had a police vehicle behind me that I can recall, if the police are laying low, they're not going to see the digital plate.

But I definitely agree with your last point. Also add, just remove the plate, we have lots of vehicles driving around without plates.

I live in WA state BTW, so maybe your police are more active, then yes, this stuff may help.

 

[fliplover]

So many jurisdictions are using automated plate readers now that I don't think having a plate say STOLEN will be much benefit.

https://www.eff.org/pages/automated-license-plate-readers-alpr

 

[takemorepills]

So many jurisdictions are using automated plate readers now that I don't think having a plate say STOLEN will be much benefit.

https://www.eff.org/pages/automated-license-plate-readers-alpr

Some cities have had to shut those systems down due to "civil liberties" issues.

I worked for Seattle DOT, we had LPRs and after a decade of using them for travel tracking (anonymously BTW) they were shut down in an abundance of caution. We also stopped supporting the police CCTV network, and we weren't allowed to record any traffic video feeds.

I would suspect that in certain cities, certain people will also find issues with digital plates.

It sucks, but it's the way it is in some places

 

[Heavy Dupree]

https://www.autoweek.com/news/technology/a42444153/california-digital-license-plates-hacked/

Once the team established full administrative access, they could see the details of every user's account, including vehicle type and physical address. Every vehicle with a Reviver plate could also be tracked by GPS in real-time, and the hackers could change or add any slogan to the plate. Additionally, the security function of the plates that label the car as stolen could be abused, allowing hackers to mislabel the vehicle as stolen at a moment's notice.

As if nobody fucking saw this coming

WIth GPS, they know where you've been and how fast you got there. As long as there is profit to be had from selling your data, there is incentive to sell it. Then it will trickle down to law enforcement, financial institutions, insurers, PI's, divorce attorneys, advertisers, etc.

"Oh, but we would never sell your data"... Horseshit.

Need a auto financing? Your credit's fine, but we can only offer you this rate based upon your driving history. Need car insurance? Need health insurance? Well your rates could be adjusted based upon how often you visit drive-throughs and liquor stores. All data potentially collected by your cool, digital license plate.

 

[trackratZ]

So much risk of SPI plus $20/month, don't bother! Spend your $$ on useful upgrades. It's a license plate for heaven's sake.

 

[MHockey17]

Criminals don't care about technology, because nobody enforces the laws (at least where I live) they have cameras in stores that display the video of the thief stealing....so what? Doesn't help.

I drove several months with an expired tag. I never had a police vehicle behind me that I can recall, if the police are laying low, they're not going to see the digital plate.

But I definitely agree with your last point. Also add, just remove the plate, we have lots of vehicles driving around without plates.

I live in WA state BTW, so maybe your police are more active, then yes, this stuff may help.

Oh gotcha, guess in areas like yours yes this probably makes little difference.

Bit different here in PA. Ive personally been nabbed a few times for expired docs just by happenstance because a patrolling officer passed by on the road and noticed my inspection sticker was out of date or randomly running plates while in traffic. Though not to say that I have expired docs often lol , but it is something that's enforced around here.

So here I think it could be helpful if you car was stolen and you could immediately display the banner via the app

 

[StrikeS30]

Our regular personalized plates here in Ontario cost $310. Bad enough. We used to have to pay $120/yr for renewal on top of that. But, apparently the provincial government scrapped that renewal price, so now it costs nothing to renew. No more stickers. But, you still have to renew them online no charge. I guess they didn't like the billions of dollars in income. I'd have been happy for a reduction in price. But, they threw it out all together. Money that could have went into say health care or schools but at least it looked good on paper to save families "so much money".