Will Idaho Adopt Popular New Digital License Plates?

They might seem a bit odd the first time you see them. They stand out, and no one ever has trouble seeing them at night. Digital license plates have been legal in Michigan and Arizona. California legalized them last week. They are about to be rolled out in Colorado, Texas, Illinois, Georgia, and Florida.

Digital plates are precisely the way they sound. They look like a rectangular iPad that displays your license plate number. The difference is that they are easier to see, and you can customize them in ways you never could with a standard metal plate. With an app on your phone, you could change "Famous Potatoes" at the bottom of your plate to "It's My Birthday" or "I Can't Afford My Kid's BK Tuition."

There are other advantages to going digital besides looking cool and customization options. For example:

• They eliminate the need to go to the DMV for almost anything.
• You could go to the Idaho DMV website to register your vehicle, and the new stickers would instantly appear on your plate.
• If you let your plates expire, an "X" occurs where the month and year stickers would typically appear, making it easy for police to spot the violation.
• If your car is stolen, you could change your plate to say it is stolen, potentially making it easier to recover.
• You could use your plate to let the person behind you know about an Amber Alert currently in progress.
• They could act as parking permits.
• They could display your parks permit.

There are two versions of the plates, both made by Reviver. One has a battery, and the other is hard-wired to your car's battery. The version that has its own battery is slightly less expensive, but if the battery runs out, you're responsible. You could be pulled over for driving without a plate.

The future of digital license plates is unending, with the potential for custom colors to match your car, custom backgrounds, and countless other things that we haven't even thought of yet. Over the years, every part of the car has gone through a massive technology update. Why not the license plate?

Reviver is currently the only company that has been given a government contract to produce these digital plates.  They cost around $20 per month, a significant increase over the standard metal plate.  We asked if they had been in discussions with the state of Idaho, but our questions went unanswered.

There is currently no discussion about digital license plates coming to Idaho, but with nearby states like California, Arizona, and Colorado already onboard, Idaho could easily be next.

Here is a recent news report from Los Angeles:

Here is a promotional video from the manufacturer, Reviver: