Dubai To Launch Digital Vehicle Number Plates (bbc.com) 75
Drivers in Dubai may soon be using digital number plates under new plans. In a trial starting next month, vehicles will be fitted with smart plates with digital screens, GPS and transmitters. From a report: The new plates will be able to inform emergency services if a driver has an accident. Dubai has recently spearheaded a number of new transport initiatives as it seeks to become an international technology hub. According to Sultan Abdullah al-Marzouqi, the head of the Vehicle Licensing Department at Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), the plates will make life easier for drivers in Dubai. As well as contacting the police and ambulance services if the vehicle is involved in a collision, the technology allows real-time communication with other drivers about traffic conditions or any accidents ahead. The number plates can also change to display an alert if the vehicle or digital plate is stolen.
Waste of money, invasion of privacy (Score:1)
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Re:Waste of money, invasion of privacy (Score:4, Insightful)
I agree with your rage, but it's already happened in parts of the US, where EZ Pass is required for some bridges and tunnels... this being said, there is a pseudo anonymous cash payment option.
This being said, a lot of things have taken hold abroad (e.g fingerprinting to buy groceries in Venezuela) that don't exist in the US or EU.
Maybe the best thing to happen to the world would be a massive trade war and recession that will set the progress of privacy robbing tech back 50 years and cause superpowers to go bankrupt.
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...it's already happened in parts of the US, where EZ Pass is required for some bridges and tunnels.....
E-ZPass Is the Best Tracking Device That's Already in Your Car https://gizmodo.com/e-zpass-is... [gizmodo.com] It's not just for bridges and tunnels anymore...
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Maybe the best thing to happen to the world would be a massive trade war and recession that will set the progress of privacy robbing tech back 50 years and cause superpowers to go bankrupt.
I find your ideas fascinating, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
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Maybe the best thing to happen to the world would be a massive trade war and recession that will set the progress of privacy robbing tech back 50 years and cause superpowers to go bankrupt.
I think we on that road now. The inequality between rich and poor, privileged and the rest of us is at record levels. Every other time in history this resulted in revolution or war. Strap your seat belts on...
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You've never lived in the UAE, have you?
There is auto plate number recognition everywhere.
Almost every vehicle in all 7 emirates has a RFID tag on the windshield because there is one toll road in Dubai. Abu Dhabi has cameras above the road every few feet.
There is CCTV in every mall / parking lot / almost every intersection.
All cell phones are from one of two carriers, with major government influence. The entire country has coverage. Many buildings have femtocells or carrier approved repeater solutions insta
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Well, from the post you're replying to it sounds like a North Korea but with food, no snow and you can go anywhere. Both extremely safe places if you visit them.
Except we know about the conditions of working poor foreigners in UAE, so how you're treated may depend on "race" and wealth/income.
I think I would rather pay a visit to North Korea, as I'm poor and in North Korea you just can drink beer and alcohol, smoke their counterfeit cigarettes, sing karaoke, whatever. Unlike UAE I wouldn't worry about my pas
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Dubai has the 2nd most expensive standard of living in the world.
They left buggies, horses, and camels behind over a century ago.
Only the positives are talked about... (Score:3)
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Interestingly, in the UAE, when you go over 120km/h, federated cars make a beeping sound and display a warning triangle.
They don't often enforce traffic infractions with real police officers. They usually just send you an SMS instead of pulling you over.
It's a different world there.
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We have this thing called computers now. It can sort out the "you are in GPS area XYZ, speed limit is 85mph". (Or even use some image recognition to see the posted speed limit.)
The only thing that would make "actual speed limits" for cars work, is if manufacturers were liable for speeding instead of consumers. Some people will point to the whole "gun makers aren't liable for how they are used". If a gun specifically went off during bank robberies but not during home defense situations, would the gun manufacturer be liable? Hell yes. So why not the same for speeding and cars? (Especially now that's its technically possible to have a car that obeys speed limits.)
Would police also have to use a "speed limited car"? (I'm pretty sure most laws state that unless sirens are on, they can't do illegal maneuvers like speeding. This could be enforced also.)
The GPS in my phone can't even tell if I'm on the interstate or a frontage road. The interstate has a limit of 70 (actually 60 right now because of construction) and frontage road is posted as 35. There's another spot where my GPS jumps among 3 different roads not knowing which one I'm actually taking.
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How the hell could we do street racing if they limited the speed on cars? People like you just suck the joy out of life.
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Why do they even make cars that can exceed the speeding limit?
Because a car isn't just a form of transport; it's the 20th century's equivalent of the padded codpiece. If someone built a car that physically could not exceed the speed limit, millions of 19-year-old boys would either buy something else - that COULD let them roar up and down the road like rutting dinosaurs - or they'd find someone who knew how to remove the limiter so they could roar up and down the road like rutting dinosaurs.
One of the reasons electric cars have been so slow to take off is that they don
Re: Only the positives are talked about... (Score:2)
One of the reasons electric cars have been so slow to take off is that they don't have an exhaust system that sounds like a twelve-ton hog farting through a giant trombone.
Right; we've just been turning our noses up at all the various models of viable electric cars over the years because they weren't loud enough. Or you're completely imagining shit./b
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Well, that is one of the reasons why. Think of it this way - cars have gotten much quieter of late. So much so that many cars actually have "engine augmentatio
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Public roads? You mean the Sheik's roads?
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Is there a concern that the government now knows where your car is at all times?
No, only in America. In the rest of the world we let the government track our vehicles in real time because we don't get constantly oppressed and we enjoy the services that result from the tracking (better management of traffic, servicing, environmental zoning, etc).
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Nope, I'm serious. There are many countries which have real-time scanning of license plates for a wide variety of things.
e.g. In China every other intersection you go through may have what looks like a camera flash go off. The ones that don't have been switched to IR so it stops distracting drivers. They are tracking in real time the movement of cars by licenseplate through the city and tracking registrations.
e.g. In the UAE they do the same thing. Netherlands too. They are starting in France, and Belgium t
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... what about the real-time tracking of each and every vehicle? Is there a concern that the government now knows where your car is at all times?
not at all! they already know where *you* are thanks to your self-inflicted slavery to facebook and other smartphone-infested lifestyle mental disorders so why would tracking your car be considered "outrageous"?
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Who cares about legit access. Is the location send out encrypted? Hahahaha. I think this is going to be fun.
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Nah, they've already got cellphones for tracking people. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm sure you're right & they'll track the vehicles, but from a privacy standpoint, that ship has largely sailed.
Data collection (Score:3)
how long before... (Score:5, Funny)
How long before they're hacked to display anti government slogans on every second car? Or just a nice pair of ... mammaries.
Also, if the plates have an LCD screen, there should be an option to press a button in the car to send messages to tailgaters...
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Also, if the plates have an LCD screen, there should be an option to press a button in the car to send messages to tailgaters...
I've considered many, many times installing a marquee LED display in my rear window solely for this purpose. Pretty sure there's probably some law in Texas making it illegal, but I wouldn't be telling a police officer to get off my ass!
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Also, if the plates have an LCD screen, there should be an option to press a button in the car to send messages to tailgaters...
I've considered many, many times installing a marquee LED display in my rear window solely for this purpose.
Wouldn't it be easier just to not hold everyone up? I never have this problem because I either drive fast, or when driving slow I let fast people behind me go around. The road is a shared resource.
Re: how long before... (Score:2)
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How long before they're hacked to display anti government slogans on every second car? Or just a nice pair of ... mammaries.
Also, if the plates have an LCD screen, there should be an option to press a button in the car to send messages to tailgaters...
"K1CK ME" .... ....
"H@CK ME"
"H0NK ME"
ahead of the game (Score:5, Funny)
Gee, bob, I wonder... (Score:1)
Easy For Bicycles (Score:2)
Something like this (diagram via ascii)
/ Pedal Arm
( ) Bottom Bracket with Serial Number underneath
/ Pedal Arm
==( )== Pavement Level with Lucite See Through
IIIOIII Camera and LED bel
Loss of telemetry (Score:3)
The new plates will be able to inform emergency services if a driver has an accident.
How does that work if you're rear ended and the plate is mashed between two cars?
Maybe the loss of telemetry from the plate alerts the authoritarians... I mean authorities.
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How does that work if you're rear ended and the plate is mashed between two cars?
I know right, because there's no space anywhere else in a car for electronics and we don't have any cables or anything to connect the plate to anything else.
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You've never owned a Kindle or anything else with an e-ink screen?
all vehicles? (Score:2)
Too much (Score:2)
If my own plates rat me out to the police, I'm giving up driving.
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Excellent, glad to hear it. If you are ratted out to the police it means you were committing a crime, the more criminals we can get off the road the better.
DMV (Score:1)
I for one can't wait to wait in line at the DMV to get one.. I'm sure it won't take long.