The Expert Podcast

So here's a new development in the automotive registration profession: California has become the first state to approve digital license plates for all vehicles.

What is a digital license plate? Well, you normally expect to see a license plate as a piece of metal that's stamped, painted, and put on your car. That metal plate is provided by the government agency in the state which issues registrations, normally called the Department of Motor Vehicles or Department of Transportation. Well, California is allowing for digital plates. It's kind of like an e-reader. It has ink on it, like you'd read on a tablet, and it's protected by a piece of glass that's really strong, resisting chips or breakage. But it can be programmed with an app, so you can change the plate number on your vehicle.

Originally, this technology was designed for corporate fleets, so if you have a registration and you're changing it from one state to another, but it also allows for different types of tracking of the vehicle. It can also be changed if the vehicle is reported stolen or if it has some type of violations against it that may show up on the screen.

So what are your thoughts on the privacy implications of having a digital license plate? Would you put it on your car? Some other states are looking at this; I believe Michigan and Virginia are also considering this technology. The big proponent of this, or the big reason for doing it, is that the plate can display information other than a car's license plate number. Meaning that you can put notifications about that vehicle or notifications about the cargo, maybe if it's a commercial vehicle, or notifications about the driver if it's in a fleet.

So what are your thoughts on this? Is this something that you think is going to be good in the long run, or is it going to create more difficulties for the registration and titling of a motor vehicle?