I will NEVER allow a private company to control my car. NEVER
11
What a crazy idea! I'm going to spend hundreds of dollars to mount a tablet on my rear bumper. Anyone can scratch it, bump it, spray paint it, kick it, destroy it. Plus giving all my privacy to this company, and the government! Give me a stamped metal plate. That's good enough.
31
Wonderful, I’m driving down the street and trying to block out all the other numerous distractions constantly flashing at me from everywhere all around and now the license plate of the very car ahead of me that I’m trying my best to avoid rear ending is now doing the same? This is sheer insanity. As is all this vanity plate nonsense. People need hardly any encouragement as it is. One can only hope we all OD on it.
12
Big Brother is watching you.
10
A very bad idea. It will surely be used in ways that you do not approve of nor will you be able to control it. You're already walking around dressed in corporate logos providing free advertising and now it's okay to put a digital info tag on your car that can and will be hacked? Really? So you're a Grade-A human being driving your car and unbeknown to you, your tag suddenly reads PEDOPHILE! Or when someone who can't park backs into your car and destroys the digital tag, guess who will be responsible for replacing another very expensive and unnecessary 'gadget'. You!
17
I hope everyone who has (unanimously) opposed this silly idea in this forum takes as much time to write their motor vehicle commissioner to reiterate their points.
13
Surveillance State here we come.
12
There is nothing in America that is not about monitoring you 24 hrs a day 7 days a week.
9
I pay for a hunk of metal once, no phone needed, no cost to me every month and you can't get rich off my fender unless I want to run my own banner ads. Thanks. But no thanks.
16
If it's only broke a little, only fix it a little.
Just slap a barcode tag on one corner.
Sheesh.
6
Advertisements on my license plate? Like an ad for Chevrolet trucks on a Ford F-150? Will they blink and have the marching ants lights on the perimeter to attract attention?
7
$48 for metal plates or $699 for e-plates while becoming a moving billboard and all the while being potentially tracked? Where do I NOT sign up?!?!
13
I have 14 year old plates on my mini van. Can these survive bumping into the trash can, the snow bank or whatever.
Probably not.
Do I want to give unlimited tracking of my car's location to the state .
Probably not.
Does this solve a problem.
Probably not.
Just more technocrats looking for ways to monetize , well, anything. OH, and eliminate some more human jobs.
15
Oh great! Yet another subset of my daily experience is going to go over to advertising to me. When are the cheery overjoyed tech consumers going to wake up about gradually being used as "coppertops" to the advertising industry? The presidency is quickly bending towards "1984". The rest of daily life is becoming "The Matrix" where we're not being used for our energy output but rather for our capacity to watch ads.
Dystopia isn't about a burnt out future in which the last 5 survivors of a nuclear attack triumph over millions of heavily armed and trained troops. Dystopia is about every last bit of our ability to use our brains and act like human beings is warped to addiction to constant advertising so that immature little babies can become billionaires at the expense of humanity itself.
7
Let me get this straight... I live in Spain.
When the police stops me, they take a photo of my plate with something that looks like rugged smartphone, and they check if I am insured by tapping in a state-wide database.
As for registration,it's the same... Only it is a town-wide tax, so the database is much smaller.
No stickers or anything to add on the plates, just one on the windscreen for the MOT inspection.
The next step for American drivers is to pay seventy bucks a year to have a "smart plate" that essentially does the same job - automatize checking that I am insured and Paine the registration fee - that a couple of database does for us here, with no added costs?
Really? But asking public services to just do their job competently, is really that hard?
5
I wonder if the strobe flash from the red light cameras can pick up the plate number on these. Bright light usually washes out most LED displays.
1
The article explains that the plates use E-Ink technology like an e-reader, not LED.
2
Perhaps a good idea for fleets, or wealthy people in big cities. I would never pay for such or really want it, seems like an invasion of privacy.
4
So what happens when I drive my car to Algonquin Park in Canada (a foreign country) that has limited-to-no cell service. Will I have license plates or just a blank thing that the Ontario Police can Rickey repeatedly?
I’ll just keep my two pieces of tin, thank you very much. I don’t need to be connected or anyone’s advertising stooge.
14
monetize and track, great (sacrcasm)
12
Sorry, uh, no.
Let me know when they figure out a digital plate that flashes ads that pays ME, not THEM, for the privacy I'm sacrificing to have my vehicle turned into a moving billboard for these multi-million dollar corps that send their profits to overseas tax shelters.
Grrrr..
12
Nobody wants to pay $75 a year. But what if some company offers $75 a year TO you plus a free digital plate (its size may be a bit larger) in exchange for their control of its content?
1
@KI Not enough for me.
6
It appears that all of the various options for digital license plates have initial and recurring costs substantially higher than the cost of manufacturing and distributing license plates by state authorities.
11
Just wondering, the car in front of me has one of those fancy plates. An advertiser decides to start the plate blinking to attract my attention. The resulting distraction causes me hit the car in front of me. Will the advertiser pay for the damage? There are enough distractions out there, don't need anymore.
20
What's next. Digital under garments with advertising and GPS tracking?
11
". . . plus a monthly communications fee." Ah, yes, another creative way free enterprise exploits the taxing power of the state, or needs that are essential in a high-tech society.
13
@David A. Lee: That's it - if someone can explain how I'm "saving money" by paying $700 + an annual fee of $75 in addition to my annual license fees in order to have an expensive (and easily stolen) piece of electronics bolted onto my car, I'd be interested. Near as I can tell, I'm spending more money and getting nothing in return.
Plus, I expect hackers would soon figure out a way for folks running red lights to change their license plate numbers to, say, mine. Thanks, but no thanks.
10
This is a solution looking for a problem.There seems to be zero benefit to the consumer/driver.
Remind me again what the point of paying registration fees is?
29
NO. Why? Because we don't need more advertising and i sure as heck don't want it on my car. Plus, the price of repairing/replacing it will add a lot more to accident costs than replacing a conventional license plate.
If a license can be wired to alert of a stolen car then the car can be wired elsewhere to make the same alert, such as the ignition can be wired not to start or the headlights to blink continuously.
16
I give it less than a week before some New Yorker’s digital plate is pried off and ends up in a chop shop or for sale on eBay.
17
Excellent move. But make the change more affordable, if you please!
This reads like a press release... it would have been be nice if the writer pointed out that out of all the “benefits” enumerated, none accrue to the vehicle owner.
37
@Madmole Some people would see getting paid to advertise as a benefit. Of course, no one will buy this at the current price.
3
All the commenters see the sky falling. Perhaps, but maybe not. That's what the trial is to find out.
3
I don’t think I have ever seen such a unanimous consensus on an article before. Glad to see the obvious common sense of NYT’s readers.
31
Too hard to apply a sticker every year or two.. Give me a break.
This is a money grab in search of a government issued monopoly.
34
And who exactly is going to pay to replace my plate when it's shattered each Monday and Thursday after the standard bump and tap technique required to get a car properly moved into a space for NY's alternate side of the street parking regulations? My current aluminum plate looks like a piece of shrapnel after it's tour of duty on the NY streets. Call me a sentimentalist, but I'm kind of fond of certain old school aspects of NYC.
28
@PeterKa .. or, how about bored teenagers walking around smacking them with a bat. Highest number trashed in one night wins.
5
I remember reading in a business book that companies and government will computerize an already flawed or inefficient system. This is a great example of computerizing something not needed at all. Some years back an inventor wanted to sell a device that went inside a car so that police could stop a car in a high speed chase. The potential for misuse was fortunately seen by almost everyone and it never went forward.
13
I'd love to have such a plate - as long as I could post my own content on it, which would be every software license agreement I've been required to agree to, looping over and over.
Of course, Texans might find a way to advertise their love for Jesus, hatred for immigrants OR more likely, their caustic judgement about the driver behind them - some interesting gun play is sure to erupt.
8
This will work just great in Vermont... where there are large areas that have no connection of any kind. I can see it now, blank plates in several large swaths of land. CT and NY tourists will be stopped left and right to verify their existence. Yes, this is really a "no brainer".
20
Can't wait for the system to be hacked and obscene messages shown on all the plates. Or all the plates changed to indicating a stolen vehicle. Or some miscreant taking a baseball bat (or spray paint or stickers) to the screens.
21
Please. Just stop. We don't need to be tracked every moment of lives. I mean, the government is not always our friend.
34
The better problem to solve is how to end the practice of having 50 states issue plates and driver’s licenses. I’ve never understood why we won’t have national licensing, especially given how often people move across state borders.
10
@Rebote Carom Because we are a Republic of 50 states, not one federal government. Very simple, and I bet people don't really move across state borders that much as a percent.
1
Another candidate for a Clockwork Orange Award for cruel, unusual and utterly unnecessary use of technology.
26
Someone will invent clothing that can display advertising that can be changed via wireless Internet connection. Someone else will invent contact lenses whose inside surfaces can display advertising that can be changed via wireless Internet connection. Someone else will invent little implants that can send information directly into the brain via the central nervous system, with advertising that can be changed via wireless Internet connection. It seems as if the main product produced today is advertising that can be changed via wireless Internet connection. Actually, the product is an understanding of, and influence over, the public's behavior. The advertisers are the customers. The advertising is the bait to capture the product. That's the Internet business model.
8
I'm trying to envision the DMV (or BMV, here in Ohio), maintaining a database tracking all these interactive license plates.
Nope.
Also, I suspect most people are unlikely to want to pay a monthly fee for a fancy plate that tracks their every movement.
18
I suppose these new place will be safe from potential hacking, right? Tell me only what you want me to hear, corporate marketing, not the truth.
14
Hacking??? What is this hacking thing? Hacking data has never, ever happened. Everything is safe, there has never been a problem with sharing your basic information on-line.
14
Just because nobody wants this does not mean it won't happen. In fact, the very reasons that no one wants it are why it probably *will* happen.
10
More tracking and more advertising, just what Americans wanted.
23
My refrigerator tells me to buy more and better ice cream. Use my credit cards if necessary, In fact, I just bought 5 gal of really great ice cream. Expect delivery soon.
5
I'm sure it would be fairly easy to use such a device to track the speed of a vehicle as well. No need for speed traps. We'd all be driving one. Might as well chip the drivers while were at it. Those camp tatoos are so 20th Century. Nice future we got.
20
OmahaProfessor--Next stop: the soylent green factory.
12
apparently another reason not to get a tattoo?
3
I was recently rear ended, not really bad, but lost my license plate. I was driving by a week later and saw it by the side of the road, mangled but no worse for the wear. I stopped, hammered it out flat with a handy rock and reattached it to my car. Try that with an electronic plate!
36
That was my plate, please return it to me.
5
So on the off chance that I get a fender bender I would have to pay to fix some piece of tech because someone wanted to fiddle around with something that pretty simple and works well as is? If the plate malfunctions would I go to my mechanic or (oh dear God no) the DMV? Would the DMV now have to hire special plate programmers for every state, or would they have to partner with a tech company? Then if they partner with a tech company, that raises issues of digital security, yada, yada... This just causes more headaches and issues than it is worth.
21
Yet another means to be hacked. When your foe decides it would be cute to have you arrested, they could change your plate into saying your insurance has lapsed or your car is stolen. Haven't we learned from our electronic voting imbroglio?
24
Well, we don't yet have flying cars or jet packs, and real hoverboards are still some time away, but wasn't it between Back to the Future I and II that Doc Brown's Delorean lost its OUTATIME plate and went to that shiny barcode? I guess we finally HAVE gotten somewhere since 1985!
PS: Oh, but the Cubs did finally win the World Series.
5
Post of the Year!
apparently BTTF was not just a movie, but reality!
It only works up to 185 degrees? Haha on Monday here in my part of Texas ambient air temps reached 111. Anything dark colored would give you an instant burn (like the black handles on my car door).
I think the better question is why do we need license plates at all? Cars should just come with a built in RF transmitter that broadcasts the license number and any other information needed by authorities or toll operators. We are way beyond needing a physical sign visible on the outside of the vehicle to determine who owns it, if it's registered, etc. For cops, it'd make things so much simpler since insurance info, vehicle ownership, and registration info would all be accessible by simply checking their computer or handheld screen. For everyone else it'd eliminate the hassle and expense of external plates.
5
@Mr. Adams I think we need license plates in general because when someone hits and runs etc., an eye witness can have more information to give to the cops than just the make and model / color of the car.
9
Mr. Adams--It could be something like an EZ Pass, like the ones they use to get across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, that would just stick on the window.
2
Sarella--there are surveillance camera everywhere. Why would that be necessary? And, just about everybody has a smart phone. You can't do anything, these days, without being watched.
This is a terrible idea. The government (local and federal) is not spending the necessary money on security. Imagine the treasure trove of information if this system is hacked. I really wonder about the future when I see such reckless lack of forethought with regard to technology and privacy.
13
In real life, licence plates get dented, bumped, and scratched--and they work. An electronic license plate will be prone to failure, open to hacking, and a great opening for car thieves to use any plate number they like.
22
Sheesh, cars are already tracked through GPS, now they want to add tracking through your license plate? What's next, tracking your bicycle? Buzz off, Big Brother. I don't want you to know where I am.
17
They already track you with the GPS and cell tower connections by your cellphone in your pocket/purse.
2
A digital license plate is right up there with those other 'technological advances' we all could just as well live without - and quite likely live far better, with less strife and more free time to do productive things. Facebook, instagram, twitter and snapchat for starters. 'Alexa' for another.
By the way, what will those guys at your local prison be doing to stay amused when they're no longer stamping out vanity plates for doctors, dentists and lawyers driving Teslas and German autos?
7
People who wear clothes with designer logos are PAYING a company to be a walking billboard, with no residual benefit.
Why would anyone PAY a few hundred bucks a year to advertise Gucci shoes or Walmart cereal? Not on my car.
Yuk!
8
Pennsylvania has already gotten rid of the sticker. And the Registration Card. You have to print your own Registration card. There is also (at the time you renew ON LINE a letter from PennDot you can show to a Police Officer if stopped in another state that advises the new "no sticker" policy. PennDot claims it needs to save postage. When I started driving in 1962, you paid $5.00 a year for a new plate and owners card. Then you paid $24.00 for just the sticker and owners card. Now you pay $36.00 and get NOTHING unless you print it yourself. No computer? No printer? Tough. Meanwhile we have the worst conditioned roads on the East Coast. No need to be welcomed into New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia or Ohio by signpost. You'll know when the road gets smoother. Pennsylvania politicians are real good at GOP Gerrymandering though, as Times readers are well aware.
9
Oh no the horror of not being able to shake me down for a sticker every year.
The absolutely human tragedy.
3
Ha! So now we wouldn't just be paying for a sticker, we'd be paying fees to advertisers plus a renewal fee, plus the cost of the license plate itself. Nice little racket.
9
This invention requires a department of motor vehicles that is not inept. For more information, see the ongoing saga of the software being developed (or, perhaps mis-developed) at the Minnesota DMV.
5
Regarding ads on the plates, instead of all the gasping and pearl-clutching I see among the comments, we should seriously demand from the outset that the car owner be paid a royalty for any such advertising, based on actual usage. You would get a royalty check (or credit to your bank/credit card account) based on how long the ad was visible, who paid for it, etc. There is money to be made here, and you should get a share of it.
13
@BloUrHausDwn I should get to pick the ad, too.
5
Tracking, tracking, and more tracking. I’ll take the bus and pay cash before I put one of these on my car. Did I say tracking?
11
@Gazbo Fernandez I do that now. Chicago has a Ventra card which you must use on the L but the card itself doesn't have to be registered. They try to bribe you into using it by "giving" you $5 if you register- no thanks! I do sometimes take the bus with cash, too.
1
Just curious as to what happens when the digital plate gets broken in an accident? Somewhere the article mentions lower insurance rates because of better compliance with registration and inspection. I see nothing but higher rates to replace the damaged plates during a collision.
No thanks, you can keep it!
13
@Jerry Ues and I think the dumb ads will cause accodents due to distracted driving!
4
If the device can be secured premanently to the vehicle at manufacture, it could evolve into the VIN with the long serial number embedded in the coding of the plate.
2
We don't need a better license plate. What we need is a better DMV !!!
17
Insurance companies lowering premiums.............Ha Ha. Dream on.
22
First of all, I'm to pay $700 to give YOU the privilege of tracking me? No, thanks!
Secondly, if I'm to show your advertisement on my license plate then aren't you to pay ME?
25
"The front remains standard issue, and the driver must carry a regular rear plate in the vehicle in case the digital version malfunctions."
In other words, the metal license plate isn't going anywhere. What a joke.
22
Just more gadget for more profit being pushed for something that was never a problem.
15
Here are some things a future article might address:
1) A physical (stamped) license plate is an aide to 'vehicle provenance', much like a stamped VIN number. For example, in intellectual property cases the provenance of a document carries more weight when a paper copy or optical disk master are available for inspection. These are more trustworthy than, say, an encrypted file stored on a cloud computing system controlled by another party.
2) If the unit breaks, then no license plate number is visible.
3) A 'bootleg' electronic plate, under the driver's control, could be applied on top of the official plate. These would be hard to spot from even a short distance away.
4) As long as we're eliminating vehicle provenance, why not just digitize the vehicle title too?
5) Criminals could disable (break) the display before a crime, and if caught mere claim that the unit was defective beyond their control.
6) Today I saw a license plate that was duct-taped to a rust bucket. In these cases the cheapest plate would be preferred (i.e. the stamped plate).
4
I like the old license plate. I'm used to it. I have no interest in ever owning a license plate that makes me remember a password to gain access to it.
I can also do without an electric bread toaster that is connected to the internet.
I like my old telephone which is connected to the wall of my bedroom with a copper wire because I never lose it.
Life is short.
I would rather live it without any more superfluous devices.
18
I like the old license plate. I'm used to it. I have no interest in ever owning a license plate that makes me remember a password to gain access to it.
And never sends me error messages.
12
@A. Stanton
Apparently you and I are the last two who agree on the inherent uselessness of cordless phones. A plugged-in phone is always where it's expected to be, and never runs low on power.
Not a Luddite - I'm a mechanical engineer and try to always consider when higher level technology is needed --- or not. E-plate = so not needed.
3
When I'm down on my luck and can't afford a fee of some kind, will the plate flash red as a badge of shame? If I miss a car payment, will the bank lock out my ignition, preventing me from getting to work? If I'm just trying to make it, will I stoop to allowing advertisements on my property for corporations and products that I don't support?
7
Nah, the bank or government (dmv) will just turn the license plate off, maybe leaving just the flashing red light, so that it becomes seriously illegal for you to use the vehicle and void your car insurance protections.
2
@John
Well, it is already the case that some auto loans come with an interlock system that WILL prevent you from starting your car if they decide you've missed a payment.
Maybe it's surprising that that wasn't listed in the capabilities of the new plate.
1
@John - Please don't give them any ideas.
1
I will advertise FOR NO ONE! Good grief, this is over the edge!
Sure, say it will make registration easier...baloney. The real idea is so "BIG BROTHER" can get more into what you and I may or may not be doing. "Connection"? Double baloney.
Maybe the solar sun storms will hit before we are all living in a gulag.
5
I haven't even read the article yet but I see ..."display for advertising or alerts.." ...on my LICENSE PLATE? on the license plates of other cars?
Yeah, let's ad one more thing to:
1) distract drivers in heavy or fast-moving traffic,
2) add yet another bit of visual noise to intensify commuters' daily headache/s, and,
3) break on impact in a fender-bender or in a tight parking spot.
Can we just leave well enough alone?
8
$600 for an unreliable, breakable device that turns my car into an advertising platform and provides me with an outstanding ability to personalize my license plate. What a steal. How can i possibly miss afford to get me a pair of these?
17
My first reaction to this was to say "kill me now." But just because the Internet is a strange place, I want to clarify: I don't mean it.
14
Great, more ads in my face!
7
like driverless (sic) cars, another piece of tech junk that will spawn an IPO and make someone rich for absolutely NO reason at all. People are so desperate to become millionaires they are working overtime to get their 15 minutes and MY MONEY. No thanks. With rear-end collisions a dime-a-dozen, people will be buying those like there is no tomorrow.
what we need is fuel efficiency, clean exhaust and "more better and cheaper." Besides that, people will lose jobs, steel will get more expensive and we will end up with more ELECTRONIC polluting byproducts. JUST SAY NO.
11
Advertise on my car? And you want me to pay for it? Ha ha ha ha ha...
15
Not a single word in this article about vulnerability to hacking – have we learned nothing?
7
Oh, goody! How I have longed for the So-high-functioning-and-steadfastly-ethical DMV (and thus the state government) to be able to track my car’s every move!
How long would it be before police and other law enforcement are granted or take access to that information, as they’ve done or tried to do with cell phone location data, etc.? Or it gets hacked by a domestic abuser or other violent criminal?
And, just what we all need: more distraction as we drive! (as the drivers of other cars on the road, who have to see these flashy (flashing?) plates.
9
Just what we all need - more visual distractions on the road, moving images drawing the eye to where it doesn't need to go.
5
No
No, no, no, no, no.
I do not need an overpriced network aware license plate than can display ads or amber alerts.
The answer to the question most were not asking.
8
@David Gregory While Amber alerts and Silver alerts are in essence a good thing, those with low ethics and morals are using this to further their products.
This is one example, and who could possible oppose soomething like an amber alert? Except just knowing about it does little good, even an old picture is of little more value.
A recent fight by a big billboard company to install lots of flashing LED moving picture billboards was given the final push over strong objections by saying to sweeten the deal, they'd flash amber alerts without any fee.
That is really pushing the ethics of arguing your case. This is hot on their heels (PS, in all the years since the billboard company got their deal, I've never seen an Amber alert on their big screen.)
1
Teslas and other cars are already connected through cellular service. Why can't the automakers just built it directly into the car?
@Jonathan
Because a lot of people don’t want them too!
4
Advertising on my license plate? You're joking, right? As with advertising on clothing, my take is that if companies want to use me to advertise their products on my vehicle, they must pay me. They can reach me anytime to discuss terms.
12
When I took my first glance at this article "The Ordinary License Plate’s Days May Be Numbered", this idea to make our license plates digital seemed completely useless and just a way for the tech industry to make more money. As I read on though, the "why" aspect of them doing this became more clear, and I soon realized this idea wasn't that bad.
Of course growing up with the normal, metal license plates, a change like this would make a lot of people my age and older very confused, and against this idea. What they don't realize is that there is more to this than just the tech industry being thirsty for money.
These digital license plates can actually help fight crime. If a car is stolen, or there is some sort of issue with the car or the driver, having a digital license plate may just save the police a lot of time. These license plates would have the ability to change color and appearance, and be able to signal other drivers and the police about a problem. Not only that, but they would now be able to add a GPS and be able to easily track and locate any car they want.
To add on to this, I like the idea that businesses would be able to promote there product using these license plates. They could target certain areas, and make the license plates light up with their company logo (while of course the vehicle is parked).
There are some draw backs to this idea, but In the end , I do think this a great and very useful idea.
1
@Dean F.um i'm pretty sure that as soon as someone steals a carthe first thing they'll do is remove the electronic license plate
9
@Dean F.This will do nothing for car theft, as stolen cars are chopped up and sold for parts.
1
Heavens. Why must everything go digital (= electric)?
Has anyone thought of the environmental consequences of all the batteries (toxic chemicals) we’re now using — how those chemicals and their casing are mined and manufactured, pollute indirectly as they recharge off a still-largely-petro electric grid, and will pollute land water and air as they degrade once spent?
Other downsides as well, including but not limited to making additional hazards for firefighters, other responders and victims of a crash or other hazard.
At a certain point, things go digital as a sorry ploy to make it seem “new” and “cool” and perhaps gain some money for its investors, when really it’s just tacky glitter and metallic spray paint meant to make something “meh” look like gold.
13
Ongoing subscription. ha
6
Awesome! I'd like to program it to say "Back off, punk!" on command.
2
@AG
What I would like to have a digital license plate display cannot be published in this family paper.
5
I have not seen this mentioned elsewhere, so I will make it a stand-alone comment. A digital license plate is an environmental disaster.
The energy used in manufacturing, the extra bulk to ship the plate to its owner, the materials used to make an electronic screen and the issues with disposing of e-waste are all things we should be looking to minimize. This company is enlisting the state's help to make these problems worse.
21
This is a classic example of a solution in search of a problem.
19
As I drive past my neighbor's driveway an ad for Viagra will appear on his parked car. Yes, I suspected as much! I continue on, feeling superior in my discreet dumb plate vehicle
11
I sure hope that the powers-that-be at Reviver Auto are reading these comments. As I type this there have been 71 comments which, as far as I can tell, are unanimously opposed to this absolutely inane idea! Seriously, Neville Boston?! Seriously?!? This has got to be the dumbest idea for the solution to a NON_EXISTENT problem I have ever heard of!
26
Wow, so many Luddites here. I'm surprised they are reading the NYT's on their computer or Smart Phone.
Hate to break it to you all, the NYT's tracks you by cookies.
So I suggest you go back to reading Print.
@joe - I hate to break it to you, but the NYT "tracking" is insubstantial and easily managed by any savvy user, which you may not be ....
12
Distinctly NOT a Luddite here. But I do think some things are just fine (and sometimes superior) just the way they are.
Disruption can be useful when it serves a safety, health, or welfare need. Otherwise, the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” still applies.
And this idea of digital license plates is something that will likely just break things, and people.
10
@joe Looking for a technological solution to every problem isn't always the right answer; in fact, it rarely is. The best solution to any problem is almost always the simplest; this is not the simplest.
This does not make me a Luddite; I have devoted most of the past 40 years of my life to working with and advancing technological solutions, mostly on the 'cutting edge,' as now. I understand the technology inside and out, and such knowledge reveals gaps and weaknesses of which most people are painfully unaware, but which some of us are working very hard to fix before they cause problems and/or are exploited. Recognizing that technology is far from perfect does not make one a Luddite, but rather reveals a perspective not blinded by the shiny (which in my experience, is a problem all too many self-described 'tech savvy' people suffer from).
Technology can be truly wonderful, and it does make the world a better place for humanity; I truly believe in that - if I didn't, my entire professional career would've been a waste. Yet I am not so entranced by the siren call of the very latest trends to declare technology the solution to every question, let alone accuse those who might thoughtfully ponder such questions as 'Luddites.'
Doing so says a lot more about the unthinking brashness of those spouting the insults, than it does the target. I have raised eyebrows among my colleagues by noting the parallels between this behavior, rampant in the IT community, and Trump. Hmm.
9
They lost me on displaying ads. NO WAY do I want ads on my car, whether or not I get paid for it.
16
Common sense becoming road meat, run over by tech people thinking of new ways to extract every dollar they can from people?
15
yet another wifi device to hack.
9
No way. I have no interest in being "connected" to what they are pushing here. The potential for abuse and tracking that impinge on my personal location, security, information is unacceptable. I have no wish to have my vehicle be an advertising platform that local or what ever businesses chose to use it for that purpose. Who get's the payment for my vehicle being a billboard? What if I don't support that business for what ever reason? This is too much. If we don't fight this if it becomes normalized or implemented by states, we are giving up yet another level of personal freedoms and ability to protect ourselves from those who would use these to do things that would impinge on our rights as individuals.
14
@JDH Do you have a cell phone? You're already being tracked.
@Linda S.
You can turn off the phone...turn off your car and you don’t go anywhere, which is rather the point.
3
@Linda S. No, I do not. Nor is having a cellphone mandatory - as a license plate is.
2
Infrastructure is primarily paid for by taxes on gasoline. Electric cars don't use gasoline. Per mile taxes based on location are the most likely model as cars evolve. That's what this is about.
2
@John Owens
that's easily fixed. Each year you register the odometer reading when you get your tags and the cost is based on the added gasoline tax so rather than paying at the pump you pay at the office OR at the electric charging station.
3
Several big problems here: 1) More tracking of us by Big Brother and, thus, giving up more of our privacy; 2) Who wants to be an advertising billboard (the notion itself is absurd); and 3) Even greater use of the Automated License Plate Readers police use, with our plates numbers (even now) being in some larger database for use by whomever, and searching so, so many to find the few guilty parties. All of us need to push back against the erosion of our privacy by corporations and government -- a small invasion ends up being a large scale attack.
14
@Frank F Do you own a Cell Phone? Hate to break it to you buckie, you are already being tracked.
The most secure thing I can think of is a stamped piece of metal. Everything else is open to hacking.
No one is tracking my movements with that thing.
17
@David No one except those with license plate readers.
3
and the digital plates can potentially also "conveniently" track and archive the location of the cars, tie the info to other data such as credit, address, property and voting records etc. Gee, thanks !
22
A lot of tech solves obvious problems, and with that space increasingly crowded, companies increasingly invent or inflate "problems" to have something to sell.
Good luck to those who parallel park - tapping the gas too hard could cost a few hundred dollars to replace a license plate!
An RFID implant on an otherwise mundane license plate could do almost everything genuinely beneficial - allow police, toll booths and stationary roadside sensors to use a scanner to retrieve basic information at a tiny fraction of the cost and without a power-thirsty digital screen.
A plate that changes color if insurance expires is a terrible idea. Not only could someone paint over their plate, advertising this fact (or this clerical error) to the world is not exactly wise, because it also advertises "this driver will not call police over a minor accident". No thanks.
6
This reads like a Silicon Valley start-up's pitch to potential investors. Instead of digital license plates, cars will have ID chips with their VIN numbers that can be read by anyone nearby with a query device.
7
I often think that RFID tech would go well with tags. Speeders are easily identified, hit and run can be dealt with by phone receivers or receivers in vehicles, bikes etc., and tolls can be metered from ID'ing the vehicle.
1
"Reviver has permission to sell the plates in California as part of a pilot program."
I don't live in California.
Can I still vote YES for their secession from America?
9
Who gets to advertise on my plate when I am parked? It's bad enough that many license plates are almost unreadable because of background pictures or frames which cover the state's name. Aren't plates supposed to be IDs for a specific car? When I bought my car I told the dealer I charge $100/month for advertising on it. My car was delivered to me with no dealer sticker or plate frame.
People are stopped and ticketed for having their plate light out. That's a cheap fix. What happens when an electronic plate gets broken? I opt out. I'm not a Luddite but a steel plate with a window sticker seems good to me.
24
@S.L., I say the same thing to the dealer when buying the car — no dealer-labeled stickers, tags or license-plate frame. They aren’t paying me to advertise their business, so I won’t. The salesmen are genuinely confused by my demand, though. I don’t understand why -anyone- wants to advertise a car dealer.
11
Sometimes it's just best to leave well enough alone....
5
Let me see - I pay for the privilege of allowing a private company to monetize what I do in my car? Brilliant business model. The attraction to government bureaucracies is obvious. My additional loss of privacy - unlike a smartphone, this can't be turned off; an EZ-Pass can be left home; - is unacceptable. Instead of marketing this stupid answer to a question nobody except maybe fleet owners and MVB execs asked, why not improve internet security?
19
@minimum - You can leave your EZ-pass at home but your license plate still identifies your car. If you have an EZ-pass linked to that plate, they conveniently record any transactions to your EZ-pass account.
1
@S.L.
Exactly - more clever tech not worth the cost. You forgot the impending face readers.
1
Wow, as long as I can program it to say NOROM on the front plate, I'd buy one.
3
And what happens when the state-mandated plate displays an advertisement for the local neo-Nazi group? Is this compelled speech?
10
Ads on MY license plate. NO WAY.
15
Is it April 1?
No, no, no, no, a thousand times no. Any state legislator that gets behind this loses my vote, with no regard for any other issue. I'm in Connecticut. We stopped using window or plate stickers about 10 years ago. System seems to work fine.
Just unbelievable.
16
A traditional license plate costs about $0.07 to produce. And they want to sell a $699 plate with a $75 annual fee?
Talk about swatting a fly with a howitzer.
Sometimes a higher technology solution is not better.
47
A cheaper alternative is to imprint cars with an ID number during manufacturing. Numbering cars at the factory would save society billions over time.
7
@RC You mean like a VIN, which already exists on all cars sold in the US?
7
They already do - it's called a VIN number, and is the only real way to identify a car.
10
This is more digital crazy.
Do I really have to enumerate not the possible problems, but the inevitable problems?
America; Just say no, for once.
I love the way the writer thinks we are bored with our mundane steel slab plates. (Huge laugh emoji here)
And registration might be cheaper!! No it won't. And the nearly $1000 buy in per plate? Another hilarious knee slapper!
23
Vandals will target these relentlessly.
17
Go home IoT, you're drunk. This is a horrible idea for many obvious reasons. And I'm afraid because it is so horrible, it will become standard in new vehicles going forward.
15
Hit and run criminals will love it.
3
I can imagine:
Our town is short on revenue. Hey, let's pull up the GPS records of all e-license plate travel on the main drag this month and send out tickets for everyone who sped. We don't even need to set up a speed trap or send an officer out into the field! And the best part is that those drivers paid extra for us to be able to do this!
23
@Mark Great points. More surveillance = more revenue for town and the processor = less privacy = more intrusion in our lives.
3
This would mean you could never again be alone in your car.
Just no.
29
An excellent idea; more places for GEICO’s relentless, noisy, and unfunny assault.
11
If memory serves me, I pay $105 for my yearly car registration. Why on earth would I want this? Even if the price went down to $150, the only way it would make monetary sense is to allow advertising on my ePlate... Pay for the device, a monthly fee!, and turn the back of my car into a mini billboard... Gee, what a deal! No thanks!
28
"I NEED this new expensive license platescreen so I can get arrested faster!", said no future thief or Amber alert target ever.
21
Really? We need another thing to distract us as we drive?
15
Who knew the Times was reprinting articles from The Onion? But, yes this one is a great send up of the frivolity of the tech industry. Maybe better than the fabled Juicero... wait... that was was real, and definitely not funny. Looking forward to Russian MAGA adverts on my license plate.
39
Hackers will have yet another platform to exploit.
20
No thanks. I have enough technology already.
21
Too expensive
Too invasive
I'll keep my cheap, non-tracking tag as long as I can.
26
this is inane. no, thanks.
13
@linh And insane.
3
Just say No.
19
This is entirely driven by a way to put more advertisements in front of us. And track us.
Billboards are enough of a distraction. Now they want ads on our privately owned cars?
I, for one, spend about five minutes, all told, to afix my little sticker, to my plate.
I'd gladly do twice that just to avoid all the Blade Runner scene of constant bombardment with stuff that should have never been shoved on us to start with.
If we have 'free' Google searches, then sell ads. I pay the state to license my vehicle, and need no additional fees or punishment for having a license.
31
"The GPS would also allow commercial fleet owners to track their vehicles."
No more quick runs to the doughnut shop or a fast-food drive through for delivery drivers!
12
@TenCato: Many if not most commercial fleet owners already track their vehicles.
9
RE: "even targeting a vehicle’s particular location because the plate is connected to GPS."
This is something that I've been thinking of for a while now. I am a member of the last people - those who owned cars that were not networked - who could freely travel in America. We could get in our cars and drive anywhere we wanted. We were free to roam at will. Now cars are connected via networks. Sure, that brings benefits of navigation, traffic and weather information but we can be tracked and can be located at any time. It isn't that one has to be up to no good to want to feel free. It's something we believed in as a birth right. To travel freely where it is no one's business but our own where we were or going.
Remember the line in The Hunt for Red October - "And I will have a pickup truck... maybe even a recreational vehicle. And drive from state to state. Do they let you do that? Ramius replies : "I suppose." Borodin : "No papers?" Ramius : "No papers, state to state."
No papers. Remember that quaint notion about freedom in the United States? No papers.
Yes, even in old cars we can be tracked by our the smart phones we take everywhere. But we CAN leave them home. We CAN shut them off.
Freedom. Freedom to go as one pleases is something that future generations will not experience with networked traffic systems and self-driving cars where you will be required to have a connected car to be allowed on the roads and likely have to reserve your travel time and space.
66
@Marie Terrific Red October film reference right there. Bravo.
12
Why?
The only advantage I can possibly see is the potential to disable the plate if my car is stolen. That said, I have never wasted money on lojack, so why would I spend money on this?
I have not painted my car with ads (nor do I intend to). There are tracking options that cost a fraction as much.
And $699 plus an annual fee? That price point is absurd.
26
@Dan The motivation is for the owner to become the next facebook, which I hope gets shot down before it even flies.
The entire absurdity of this 'solution' looking for a problem is beyond logical analysis. If one looks at how much printing and postage each state would save, it will be insignificant to the $700 (taxed, no doubt at local rates) and then the $100 to $240/year to keep it going.
And I have to carry a real plate anyway, and I assume screw driver or nut driver to pop the old style plate back on if the gizmo malfunctions? How many people even check their own oil any more, say nothing of navigate how to use a screwdriver if you didn't grow up on a farm or in a family that is mechanically inclined?
Yes, I'm glad this made the paper so we all can be alert to ways that people are trying to make their fortune off the rest of us with some semblance of common sense left from our upbringing.
8
I'm waiting for them just to cut to the chase and force us to replace our "failure-prone" analog eyeballs with new digital versions that will relentlessly force us to view ads everywhere we look. Because, hey, disruption!
48
A $699 replacement to a $1 part. License plates are enormously profitable to states because they cost $1 to make but are sold for $50 and are the key to collecting hundreds of dollars in parking tickets, tolls, transfer fees and even moving violations. Vanity plates are a goldmine. Expect states to move cautiously on updating this money maker.
28
Just what we need. Total tracking and more distracting advertising on the road.
24
Advantage: Families track their teenagers' movements.
Disadvantage: Governments track you.
And we're being asked to pay for this electronic leash?
23
If you are using and carrying a cellphone the gov already tracks you via the cell tower signal. They might not be tracking you per se without a probable cause, but the data is stored there for an easy access to all your movements.
It’s like wearing a GPS tracking device that we ourselves already pay for it, voluntarily.
6
If the president can ask Mexico to pay for a wall, who would stop the DMV from asking you to pay for your own electronic cow bell?
8
Just another way for companies to monetize what we now pay to governemnt agencies. "The consumer version of the RPlate, sold through auto dealers, will cost $699, plus $99 for the first year and $75 a year after that to connect to the system’s cellular network. (The fleet version costs $299, plus a $20 monthly fee.)" It's called gouging the herd.
19
I want to be able to read the license plate of a parked car. Like when I'm trying to find my, or a friend's, car in a sea of gray SUVs.
10
I keep expecting GoogleWindshield(tm) to show info about all other cars on the road.
8
I guess I am old enough to say: "If it's not broke, don't fix it."
This idea goes completely against my Yankee sensibilities. Replacing a cheap, simple, and durable (the plate on my car is the same one that I got in 2001, now on it's second car) solution with something that is complex and expensive. And not only expensive to buy I will be forced into paying a monthly subscription cost on top of that. I have ENOUGH monthly costs that eat away at my paycheck thank you very much.
It may be "cheaper to update your vehicle’s registration" for the state after forcing me to pay at least a $100, and more like $100s for and then a subscription fee. And what do I get? Tagged and tracked big brother style.
And most plates are in vulnerable locations where minor hits can leave them creased or bent but they are still legible - and cheaply replaced. How will one these digital plates fare when someone rudely bumps into your car while they are trying to park?
Most of the things that they want to accomplish can be done with transponders - already being added to cars.
53
How old are you? 23? My ‘99 Lexus with 258,000 miles work great, has no electronic devices built In and let’s me cruise the 48 states untracked. No cell phone, pay cash and use a public library to pick up e-mail. Life is so simple under
The radar.
3
Another screen on something? This sounds like a solution in need of a problem. Tech people need better things to do, they’re obviously bored.
31
Great. Then then next election can be stolen because Putin hacked into everyone license plates. I want less advertising in my life not more.
This will also make it easier for the cops to mess with us, and no doubt kill a few more innocent civilians.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
58
Already there are cameras which can recognize license plates and connect to DMV records - so if the idea is to discontinue annual "tabs", then just stop using them.
As for EZ-Pass and similar systems, why put a transponder in something attached by (2) 25cent bolts and about the easiest thing to steal on a vehicle
The idea we need to take a $2 item and make it into a $100 item is idiotic.
And the idea of the state tracking my vehicle 24/7 by a Cellular/GPS is absolutely unconstitutional.
"Just a slab of metal" is about the best solution - keep it simple stupid
43
Great. More advertising. What an improvement. (not)
33
Doesn't the public have to tolerate enough advertising everywhere without putting it on license plates? And what if there is a glitch and the correct date isn't displayed? This is a lot of double talk. You can be certain some government or business entity will make piles of money from digital license plates. And the public will pay and pay and pay.
74
Here we go again. A tech start-up looking to digitize something analog in the hopes that people will be convinced to spend $699, plus $99 for the first year. The only ones that are really going to benefit here are law enforcement, those looking to collect tolls and registration fees, and of course companies like Reviver. These could prove to be yet another digital distraction on the road.
33
The only thing that would make this worthwhile is building it in to the car itself. No way am I paying hundreds more for something a piece of cardboard and a marker will handle just fine.
17
My car car as a billboard? No thanks!
84
Seriously?? Yet another truly stupid idea we DO NOT need.
This just allows you to be tracked, whether by the government or whomever, 24/7. Saving money on postage and paperwork? Sorry, that very minimal amount is already paid for in high registration fees (you think you will REALLY see a reduction in your fee by the $1 saved?!?). Your own car as a billboard for advertising you may not even support? Changes if your insurance supposedly lapses or some other "non-compliance", even when it's a mistake? Uh huh, nothing could go wrong with that. No thanks.
How many more examples do we need of needless technology, with increased vulnerability to hacking and a total loss of privacy do we need before people start saying no to all of these shams?
125
"Reviver Auto’s RPlate can be validated via cellular signal when registration fees are paid, saving a state the cost of postage and materials for paper renewals."
Uh sure, they'll save postage. But they'll be paying for extra IT staff to support it, so I'm not sure money savings is really a valid use case.
72
@Brad, and last I checked, cellular data isn’t free. I’m sure AT&T and Verizon love this idea, as they’ll get a nice bump from whoever pays for the service (likely the state DMV).
5
Thanks but to thanks. Not interested in trading in my hack proof piece of metal for a piece of electronic equipment. Hacking car registrations via digital license plates will be the identity thief's delight. To say nothing of the fact that a digital license plate will be much more susceptible to physical damage. Now a fender bender can cost you an additional $1000 just to replace the damaged digital plate. There is fairly good reason that the traditional metal license plate has not been replaced so why now?
113
Yet another technological advancement that no one needs. Don't bother feeding anyone or fixing the power grid, what we really need is digital license plates!
The American experiment has failed, and the world will follow us over the cliff. We're not even aware enough to feel ashamed about it, apparently.
44
With New Jersey and New York trying to outdo each other in raising taxes to the highest levels in the country, the simple gesture of having ONE instead of TWO license plates would be a good start to saving tax dollars. Does a cop ever look at your FRONT license plate when writing a ticket?
But I'm digressing from the better, hopefully even cheaper idea of an electronic plate. Now if they can keep the number encrypted from hackers...
6
@CM
> Does a cop ever look at your FRONT
> license plate when writing a ticket?
No, but they certainly often look at your front license plate as part of deciding whether or not to stop you. Here in New Hampshire, where two plates are the law, the cops fairly routinely stand at the toll plazas, checking the cars that come through. They're looking to see that your registration is current (indicated by the validation sticker on your plate) and that your vehicle inspection is current (indicated by the windshield sticker).
And if you're about to run me down on the street, I certainly make the effort to look at your front plate, even if it's only to grab a few numbers or digits.
Two plates makes sense.
9
A solution in search of a problem.
Thanks, but no thanks.
I shall keep my simple, "analog" license plate.
No batteries required.
152
@Dave Kerr
Well, probably won't be optional. Surveillance.
1
Your new license plate - digital
Connected to GPS - so you can be tracked whether you want to or not.
Can be used for advertising - so the driver behind you can be distracted or not.
You must have a a regular rear plate in the vehicle - in case the electronic one fails or not
In addition to fees paid to the state, county and municipalities, the electronic plate costs $699, plus $99 for the first year and $75 a year after that to connect to the system’s cellular network - so you can pay more. There is no not. (advertising rebates can lower net cost, but wait until insurance companies RAISE the rate for having an attractive nuisance)
How many ways is this a bad idea?
Just because we CAN does not mean we SHOULD.
179
@Jonathan Jaffe Driving is a privilege, not a right.
Besides the obvious 1984 like tracking issues, these are just more electronic pieces of garbage that would cost a fortune to repair. I just do not understand why, other than the obviously ridiculous "repair" costs, auto makers think that the public actually wants all the electronic garbage they shove down consumers throats. I wouldn't own any "modern", way overpriced plastic, looks like every other garbage on four wheels vehicle, over electronicized, can't work on it, bubbles that pass for vehicles today. You need a second mortgage just for a tune up, which used to be easy and cheap to do!
39
@Mike OD If the plate is showing ads, then that will be just one more additional distraction for drivers, and more deaths by car accidents. Really, trading human lives for big business?
5
This strikes me as a solution looking for a problem. Why would I pay $75/year for this? Applying a sticker once per year doesn't seem like that much of a burden.
68
$600, 300 or $150 for a license plate.
No thanks.
I'll take the metal one and give you a buck fifty for stamps.
38