Driving in
California could get a little more annoying in the coming days. The
Legislature of the state that brought you Brody Jenner and Spencer Pratt is now considering a bill which would allow the beginning of research into electronic license plates for vehicles. The new-fangled plates would look just like regular ones when a vehicle was in motion, but would flash awesome advertisements and other messages when stopped for more than four seconds. One San Francisco based startup, Smart Plate, is already hard at work on developing just such a device, but they're not in production yet. The measure is seen largely as a money making scheme for California, which -- like nearly everywhere else in the world -- is heavily in debt after several years of hard partying and irresponsible shopping trips. Parties interested in advertising on the plates would apparently contact the California DMV directly (then wait in line for 12 to 14 hours before submitting their preliminary application for ad space). If approved, the DMV will be required to submit its research and findings to the Legislature by January of 2013. Here's to the future!
posted June 21st 2010 10:04PM
a viagra commercial zoomin' down the freeway. haha
@IAMKITTY
I can see it now...Viagra and Cialis ads competing on cars that are side by side...
How about a Isuzu ad on your brand new Bentley? XD
@IAMKITTY And in other news, road rage incidents have tripled across the state and officials at the DMV have reported that every license plate across the state has at least one bullet hole in it.
Freaking commy money wasters.
Say there are two lanes, the cars in the left lane are standing still waiting for green light to turn left, the cars in the right lane moving forward.
Now, the ads blinking on the cars in the left lane may and will create distraction for cars in the right lane. Human eye set up to watch the road for any sudden movement (like a child running on the road) will be distracted by those plates and someone will get hurt or die.
I hate how they waste our money, then they tax us to death and then they want to kill us on the roads.
Politicians are sluts.
@IAMKITTY
lol i see it now, an advertisement of a road for whatever reason then people staring at it run into the virtual road or the car that holds the plate
@AlfaCat Uhhh, that would be Commies and it's actually a business idea so it would more likely be from the right wing side.
@manofchao5
Imagine if the ad was one of those personal injury claims lawyers ads that you see on buses in LA. Picture it - you're on the freeway, you hit stop-start traffic but don't notice it until the last minute, you slam the brakes but skid, you see the ad on the plate on the car in front of you, you scream "oh shit..."
@IAMKITTY I see many lawsuits coming from this. Distracted, accident, bogus lawyer bogus claim, million dollar payout.
The MyFlorida.com license plates look tacky enough and now California wants to look just as crappy
How long before someone hacks this to display porn?
This the same asshole state that
A. Allows people to drive new vehicles around for weeks with no temporary tag.
B. Still doesn't have the technology to issue you your license on the spot at the DMV.
C. Loves to talk about how "car-oriented" they are, but then display gross ignorance of basic civil engineering for vehicles.
And... electronic plates? How will they distinguish real ones from fakes? ASININE.
@IAMKITTY They will feature DunkinDonut ads because the only people looking at license plates are cops.
@IAMKITTY
I can just imagine
"Don't be distracted whilst driving - no use of mobiles"
The tag should read: "Total Police State Within Reach"
@New Reformation
Just think, this thing will be hacked within a month of its release, if that, and then you could load your custom animations on it. Awesome.
@muyoso Yeah, awesome.....except I can just see a whole freeway of stop-and-go traffic with goatse on every license plate...
Parties interested in advertising on the plates would apparently contact the California DMV directly (then wait in line for 12 to 14 hours before submitting their preliminary application for ad space)
More like advertisers would jump the que and everyone else would be forced to wait 18 hours
@New Reformation
So much to distraction behind the steering wheel...
Sure, if they pay the owner of the car too.
@Aguiluz
Seriously? Who will pay for this license plate draining my car's battery when idle?
And it'll still cost $100/year to renew your digital tabs.
@phillypharm
It's called an alternator.
@BigJayDogg3
And would the alternator magically draw power out of the air? No.
The alternator draws power from the rotation of the engine belts. And the engine belts run by using the gasoline your pay for.
So basically, they are using your gasoline to spin the engine, which the engine spins the alternator, and the alternator charges the battery, and which the battery powers the ad plates.
TL:DR, You're paying for them to display their ads.
@Aguiluz
Your alternator is already spinning and requires no extra fuel.
@BigJayDogg3
WOW Did you just discover free energy? You're going to make a fortune!
@BigJayDogg3
do the wheels on your car spin in the same magical way as your alternator? why not just take out that pesky engine sucking all that fuel and costing you money since your car doesn't require it
@mrt88
Did I say that? No. Your alternator is already producing the power that your engine is producing. Yes your car is using fuel to turn the alternator. My point is you won't be using any EXTRA fuel to power a screen on your license plate.
If I put this on my car will it make ME money? If so I'm down! =D
@ArcticWolf
Isn't this what is messed up about the country? People willing to give the state power and authority as long as they get cash....
@New Reformation If by "the country" you are referring to the US, don't think people aren't money hungry and willing to turn a blind eye if it benefits them around the world.
@ArcticWolf
I'll support innovation over begging the federal government for more money. Still might be a distraction problem though.
I'd simply disable mine. Nothing a quick jab with a screw driver couldn't fix.
@Mr Awesomer
Destruction of state property. Huge fine.
@Mr Awesomer
Oops...I backed into a tree...which happened to have a large metal point right at license plate ad level...how horrible.
@BigJayDogg3
I'm pretty familiar with CA vehicle code, and I don't know of anything in it that would indicate that the state own the plate. After all, I paid for the thing. I could be wrong, but either way, the poster above has the right idea if they do some how own the plate. :)
@Mr Awesomer
No, you do _not_ pay for the license plate, you pay for the administrative fee for the State of California to issue you one of _their_ license plates. You never own it at any point.
@Mr Awesomer
I doubt Cali would just up and put electronic boards on license plates and then let it be perfectly fine to destroy them.
The easiest way to get around that is basically making it so that you "rent" the plate.
@tonicboy
Source? (I'm genuinely interested.)
@tonicboy Really? Here, we just submit a form for registering a new car (or a new personalised plate). Then we take said documents to a car plate shop, who then makes the plates for you. The plates are your property and stay with the car (or if they're personalised, they stay with you and can be transferred to your next car).
@Mr Awesomer
Are you the douche from HDTVarcade?
@Mr Awesomer
California Vehicle Code Section 4850
"The department, upon registering a vehicle, shall issue
to the owner two partially or fully reflectorized license plates..." The key word being "issued", not "given". When you register your car, you pay administrative fees, some of which are used to make these plates for you, but you don't _purchase_ license plates.
@r3loaded
You just proved my point exactly. Most state laws specify that plates stay with the car when the car is sold. If the plates _belonged_ to you, what right would the state have to tell you to give them to someone else? If those are your plates, then let the next asshole make his own plates. Maybe in your ass-backwards state they force car owners to do the footwork of making the plates, but you don't own them in the sense that you can do whatever you like with them any more than you own your driver's license.
@tonicboy
Thanks. I came across that part of the vehicle code as well but still did not find it to be clear cut enough to show who owns the plate. I suppose the State owning the plate does make most sense, but that still wouldn't stop me from disabling ads they've placed on my cars ass. :)
@Extinction
Yes, I'm the douche from HDTVArcade. Which douche are you?
@r3loaded not sure which state you live in, but in NC, you only have the plate as long as you pay the yearly registration fee... once you're no longer paying for it, you have to return it to the DMV... If I owned my plate, I could just keep it and hang it on my front door if I wanted to...
@BigJayDogg3
what, oh im sorry i thought i was living on a capitalist country not a communist one...
Sounds safe.
@Devin
"...but would flash awesome advertisements and other messages when stopped for more than four seconds." You're right, it does sound safe. Keen observation.
I liked the legalization of pot thing a bit more. :)
Yet something else to keep drivers distracted. Genius!
@HahaHaha321
If the vehicle in front of you is stopped for four seconds, then you're either parked or stuck in a traffic jam. What's the problem with a distraction?