Report by Aryaa Sinha
The Motor Vehicles Digital Number Plates Bill (AB-984), passed in California earlier this month allows California vehicle owners to replace their traditional metal license plates with mounted digital plates.
Only 2 other states -Arizona and Michigan in US allow drivers to add digital license plates. Texas has also introduced digital plates, but only for commercial vehicles.
California started testing it in 2018.
What is a Digital License Plate & How does it work?
It is a permanent vehicle license plate that is of same shape and size as traditional plates.
Currently, there is just a single approved digital license plate manufacturer – Reviver. The digital license plates is known as Rplate and uses electronic ink style display similar to those found in e-readers.
These plates come in 2models-Battery powered and Hardwired version. Battery powered comes with 5 years or 50,000 miles battery life and is available for all vehicles. Hardwired version is only available for commercial businesses.
How it works
The license plate sized screen displays vehicle licence number. The hardware gets connected to an app via smartphone and offers automatic registration renewal, customisation, vehicle location services and security features such as reporting a stolen vehicle.
Also, unlike traditional metal plates that are typically issued at Department of Motor Vehicles, digital plates are available at Reviver’s website.
For people who view this as threat to their safety, Reviver says that the company has same security standards that banks use in their online services. Drivers with privacy concern will be able to disable the feature on their personal vehicles.
Image credit: Reviver