Speaker 1: The license plate is going digital. What's going on? I'm
Speaker 1: rich Demiro. This is rich on Tech. California is one
Speaker 1: of the first states in the nation to allow new
Speaker 1: digital license plates. Think of a kindle like display bolted
Speaker 1: to your car's bumper. The digital plates are low energy
Speaker 1: and display a basic image of your license plate number.
Speaker 1: But there is more technology at work behind the scenes
Speaker 1: that can help you pay tolls, broadcast emergency messages, and
Speaker 1: even retrieve a stolen car. I talked to Josh Wendish,
Speaker 1: a tech enthusiast and early adopter of the r plates.
Speaker 1: He participated in a beta program so the company that
Speaker 1: makes them, Reviver Auto, install them for free on his
Speaker 1: car so he could test them out.
Speaker 2: It's really hard to evaluate a technology that kind of
Speaker 2: fades into the background, because once you have it installed,
Speaker 2: it's basically your license plate. It is kind of neat
Speaker 2: that you can change the little message on the bottom.
Speaker 2: It's neat that you don't have to worry about tags
Speaker 2: like it automatically does the registration over the air, so
Speaker 2: you don't have to worry about getting something in the
Speaker 2: mail if that could get lost, or going to the DMV.
Speaker 1: Now the plates cost seven hundred dollars, but they function
Speaker 1: like standard license plates, except they are thicker and they
Speaker 1: do require a power connection, so installation on the car
Speaker 1: takes about an hour or two. There's both a GPS
Speaker 1: and cellular connection built in, as well as a battery.
Speaker 1: The display normally just shows your typical license plate number
Speaker 1: along with virtual stickers for your registration, and that registration
Speaker 1: is handled electronically, so when you renew your registration, the
Speaker 1: virtual stickers are applied right on your digital plate. There's
Speaker 1: also a small message at the bottom of the plates.
Speaker 1: This can be customized from a long list of choices
Speaker 1: that go way beyond the typical California license plate slogans,
Speaker 1: and they can say things like I'd rather be playing
Speaker 1: golf or Merry Christmas. As you might expect, fully personalized
Speaker 1: sayings as in something you would be able to type in,
Speaker 1: are not allowed. You could probably understand why. You can
Speaker 1: also change the look of the display from black on
Speaker 1: white to white on black.
Speaker 2: I do get some questions from people. In fact, I
Speaker 2: took my car in to get the oil change. They
Speaker 2: asked about it. They thought I heard about this plate,
Speaker 2: and you know, tell me about it, and you know,
Speaker 2: so I try to give them the benefits. But it's
Speaker 2: funny because as an end user, just like I said,
Speaker 2: it's just my license plate, So I mean, how much
Speaker 2: is there to explain?
Speaker 1: Now? Because these plates are digital, there are some security
Speaker 1: concerns for starters. They could theoretically be hacked. This will
Speaker 1: allow someone to track the plate's location or even change
Speaker 1: what's displayed on the screen. The company that makes them,
Speaker 1: Reviver Auto, says the information from the plates, including usage
Speaker 1: and telematic info, is never shared with a DMV, law enforcement,
Speaker 1: or other third parties. The company also says the plate
Speaker 1: is locked down to deter and detect any breaches or hacking.
Speaker 1: They also use the same encryption banks used to protect
Speaker 1: our money and regularly conduct tests to make sure the
Speaker 1: plates are secure. Still, these plates are basically a mini
Speaker 1: computer on your car, and that means they can crash.
Speaker 2: I ended up getting this plate as their beta testing
Speaker 2: program early on because I'm a geek and I like
Speaker 2: to get in on things early be an early adopter.
Speaker 2: And when I got in on it, it's funny because
Speaker 2: I only had one case when I came out and
Speaker 2: the plate actually needed to be reset because it was
Speaker 2: all scrambled and stuff. And I thought, oh great, now
Speaker 2: I have to reboot my license plate. That's fun. But
Speaker 2: other than that, other than that time during the beta program,
Speaker 2: I haven't had any issues with it, so I think
Speaker 2: it should be fine.
Speaker 1: I hope now. As if the seven hundred dollars price
Speaker 1: tag plus installation isn't enough, the plates also carry a
Speaker 1: monthly fee of seven dollars. Sure, you never have to
Speaker 1: worry about sticking registration decals on your plate, and you
Speaker 1: never have to worry about those getting stolen because they
Speaker 1: can't be scraped off, and the plates can even display
Speaker 1: a message that your car is stolen. But the high
Speaker 1: price tag will certainly prohibit mass adoption of these new plates,
Speaker 1: at least for now. Adam Fliner runs an automotive shop
Speaker 1: in Hollywood that installs them.
Speaker 3: I do hope that the price comes down a little bit.
Speaker 3: I think right now it's in this price point where
Speaker 3: the first adapters do have to pay for the initial
Speaker 3: the initial want of it, they have to pay for
Speaker 3: some of the research and development of it all. But
Speaker 3: I do see as more states adopted and more people
Speaker 3: adopt it after this pilot program. For the beginning the
Speaker 3: first couple of years that the price will come down,
Speaker 3: I think a little bit. I do think that they've
Speaker 3: kept the yearly fee fairly reasonable. When we do go
Speaker 3: get plates from the DMV, not the regular plates, but
Speaker 3: specialty plates, we do pay per year, so it's kind
Speaker 3: of the same thing. You know, you're paying just a
Speaker 3: slight price above that. But if you just get your
Speaker 3: regular plates and have these instead, so the yearly fees
Speaker 3: are about the same. But for the initial investment, it's
Speaker 3: a little bit. It's a little bit of an investment.
Speaker 3: But from what you do, you do own your plates,
Speaker 3: So if you do get rid of your car, we
Speaker 3: can't take your R plate off and install it on
Speaker 3: your new cars. So once your initial investment is done,
Speaker 3: if you sell your car, we just take your plate
Speaker 3: off and install it on your new car.
Speaker 1: So far, California the first state to fully adopt the
Speaker 1: R plates, and Arizona seems to be next. Texas, Florida,
Speaker 1: and Washington State have all passed programs to pilot or
Speaker 1: test the digital plates, and like any technology, the price
Speaker 1: of the plates is gotta come down. Remember how expensive
Speaker 1: flat screen TVs were at the beginning. The tech benefits
Speaker 1: are definitely there, but when it comes to privacy that
Speaker 1: could be the toughest cell to consumers. Still, at a
Speaker 1: time when cars themselves have a cellular connection and many
Speaker 1: of the same features built in, it's not crazy to
Speaker 1: imagine a time when cars are simply outfitted with a
Speaker 1: similar digital display on the front and back bumpers that
Speaker 1: can be programmed with appropriate information. Thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 1: If you want to watch the TV version of this
Speaker 1: segment and see these digital plates in action, just go
Speaker 1: to my website it's Rich on tech dot tv, or
Speaker 1: you can check the show notes. Thanks so much for
Speaker 1: listening and putting up with my voice. Yes, I'm battling
Speaker 1: a cold. I'm Rich sdimiro T. Talk to you, Wilson