![]() Proud parents could use them to brag about an honor student, making bumper stickers a thing of the past. In addition to having the potential to supplant FasTrak bridge toll devices, automatically connect to parking meters and run personalized messages, businesses could use them to advertise. The company initially set out to create Rplates to automatically update vehicle registration, but over time, the engineers expanded their uses. The DMV opened the program to bids from digital plate manufacturers, and Reviver Auto was the lone bidder. Jerry Brown approved legislation for a program that allowed the Department of Motor Vehicles to seek alternatives to traditional car registration, with its stickers and paper cards. The idea for digital plates originated five years ago, when Gov. He predicts the plates will soon be widely adopted, and that the price will plunge significantly once they are mass-produced. “There are definitely some problems that need to be taken care of, but this is a technology that’s needed,” said Ashraf Gaffar, an assistant professor of engineering at Arizona State University who specializes in artificial intelligence. Still others see the digital plates as long overdue. “It can reveal your associations, who you speak with, where you go to work, where you live.” where you happen to be at a particular moment in time,” said Stephanie Lacambra, a criminal defense attorney for the foundation. “Your locational history has the potential to reveal a lot more than. San Francisco’s nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation - a group that promotes civil liberties in the digital world - says the devices will turn individual cars into a “honeypot of data,” recording the drivers’ trips to the grocery store, or to a protest, or to an abortion clinic. He notes that every task the digital plates perform can already be accomplished by cheaper objects. “It’s only the rich people in Silicon Valley who would be egotistical enough to want something like this,” said Vivek Wadhwa, a distinguished fellow at Harvard University Law School who researches the dark side of technology. And that’s brought a new set of concerns about hacking, privacy and cost - $699 to purchase plus a monthly service fee could put Rplates out of reach for most drivers. ![]() ![]() Some auto industry experts predict that these devices will become ubiquitous in the coming years. Boston just signed a letter to test the gadgets in Dubai. From there, Reviver’s plates will be made available in Nevada, Maryland and Pennsylvania before going overseas. In June, they’ll be sold at dealerships in California and Arizona. The Rplates debuted this month on cars in Sacramento, including the city’s new electric fleet of 24 Chevrolet Bolts.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |