Deep within the confines of the shop at BangShift Mid-West is two stacks of old license plates, mostly from vehicles of my past. Each one is annotated with the vehicle or vehicles that it was attached to and the dates to which I owned and drove the car. Some adorn the walls and trusses of the shop, the memorable plates. The only personalized plate to ever grace a car I owned sits up there, along with the plates of the Warhammer Diplomat, the SuperBeater Mirada, the road-tripping 2006 Monte Carlo and the 1987 Monte Carlo SS that I drove in high school. I love license plates…I collected them before I was trusted to even start a car on my own. But, like many things, technology is striving to make something analog obsolete.
Enter the digital license plate. California and Arizona are currently testing them right now. For California, the plate costs $699, includes a $7/month service charge, and the cost of the vehicle registration itself. So, other than having a digital plate, are there any interesting additional features? Some are neat…you can register your car online instead of suffering the DMV lines, the plate allows for tracking and geofencing and there is the potential for advertisements, real-time warnings like Amber Alerts to be displayed, and if you are into that sort of thing, you can track and log trips via the software that developer Reviver Auto can provide.
On the downside, of course, is that you now have an overrated Kindle slapped to the back of your car that can tattle on you if you happen to like carving a canyon road or have hacked your system to make your license plate read something that would never pass the DMV inspectors. It is an interesting take but seriously…no. Metal license plates are just fine. They don’t shatter when some low-life with a hammer decides that today’s the day you are buying a new license plate because your old one now looks like a dropped iPhone.
good lord,what kind of dillweed would want one?—oh,wait,tesla owners….
If it becomes mandatory to have, I’m thinking of leaving.
I’m happy that I left back to my home state after being stationed in San Diego from 2002 – 2011. Gov. Moonbeam has turned California into a liberal shithole. Met and befriended many Californians while there, I hope that they head East like I did.
You can already renew your registration online. No thank you. I need that $699 to put towards my extremely overpriced registration. Stupid California!!!
The first thing that comes to mind is somebody building a big batch of very similar looking e-ink displays and advertising these on eBay with a big disclaimer: “These are ONLY sold for show use and for bolting to front license plate mounts in states that only require a rear plate. Totally not intended for fooling cops into thinking this is your real license plate!”