License plates in California are going digital.
A new law has opened the road for the reinvention of the traditional metal placards.
The state on Oct. 5 passed legislation – AB-984 or "the Department of Motor Vehicle Digital Plate Number Plates bill" – which allows all residents to replace their vehicle’s standard license plates with electronic plates.
The digital placards rolled out as a pilot program in 2018 and were purchased and used by approximately 10,000 Californians since. AB-984's passage now authorizes those plates to be used statewide by all 27 million drivers.
The product, named "RPlate," is the world’s first and only digital license plate and was solely developed by "Reviver," a technology company based in Granite Bay, whose mission is to "modernize the driving experience," according to its website.
California becomes just the third state in the U.S. to adopt digital license plates, joining Michigan and Arizona.
"People want contactless. They don’t want to go into DMV offices," Neville Boston, co-founder of Revive, told KCBS Radio. "You can streamline that and make it easier for them to transact business."
"Instead of going to the DMV to renew registration, you can literally use the app to update your registration. You don't have to wait for tags."
The plates also include visual personalizations, vehicle location services, parking and toll payments, and security features.
"If your vehicle's stolen, you could have stolen come up on the plate,” Boston said.
In addition, the plates use stable tech, which is a more resilient material than LCD. Boston said that even if the glass on the plates gets crushed, people can still read the image.
"We needed something that was ruggedized, that was able to deal with the elements, so it goes from -40 Celsius all the way up to 185 degrees Fahrenheit," he explained. "We've tested it in Dubai. We've Eerie, Pennsylvania."
There is both a battery-powered version, with five-years of life before it needs to be replaced, available for $19.95 per month and also a hard-wired version, which is only available to commercial businesses, priced at $24.95 per month.
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