Start your day with LAist
Sign up for How To LA, delivered weekday mornings.
Say goodbye to that rusty piece of metal. Drivers in California can now get digital license plates under a new law.
The Golden State had previously tested alternatives to traditional license plates, but a law signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom late last month extends the option to all drivers.
The license plate-sized screens display a driver’s license plate number and allow motorists to automatically renew their registration. Users can even switch between light and dark modes and customize the panels with personalized banners.
Lori Wilson, a member of the California Assembly that sponsored the legislation, said it will make drivers’ lives easier.
“It’s a product of convenience, and I’m all about giving people choices here in the state of California,” Wilson said, according to ABC30 Fresno.
Reviver, the company that offers digital license plates in California, said the technology is also legal in Arizona and Michigan, as well as Texas for commercial fleet vehicles. Ten other states are also considering adopting digital license plates, the California-based company said.
The plates’ tracking abilities have raised privacy concerns
The company’s so-called RPlate can be fitted with GPS and allows users, including employers, to track a vehicle’s location and mileage.
This ability has raised eyebrows among privacy advocates, but Reviver has said it doesn’t share data with the California Department of Motor Vehicles or law enforcement.
The RPlate can also display a message when a vehicle is reported stolen or when there is an Amber Alert, features Wilson believes are a boon to public safety.
“If I’m looking at the back of a vehicle, if I’m driving behind a vehicle and I see this, it gives me cause for concern and I’ll be alert to what I might see,” Wilson said. She told the Los Angeles Times that drivers with privacy concerns could turn off GPS functionality in their own vehicles.
The company reported that about 10,000 California drivers purchased the RPlate during the pilot program, a number that is expected to continue to rise as the digital license plates become available for all 36 million vehicles registered in the state.
A 2019 report by California’s DMV found that — aside from a few traffic stops by police who thought digital license plates were illegal — there were no significant concerns from officers or drivers about the new technology.
“The department believes that the digital license plate is a viable license plate alternative and recommends that it become a permanent option for Californians,” the agency said.
Reviver offers a battery-powered version of the RPlate that costs $19.95 per month, as well as a hardwired option for commercial vehicles that costs $24.95 per month.
What questions do you have about Southern California?
ask a question
-
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit npr.org.
Comments are closed.