California Is About To Run Out of License Plate Numbers (thedrive.com) 51
California is projected to run out of its current license plate number format by the end of 2025, prompting a transition to a new sequence that flips the current structure. The new format will consist of three numbers, three letters, and one number and will debut soon. The Drive reports: The current system for non-commercial vehicles, which consists of one number, three letters, and three numbers, was rolled out in 1980, and the DMV expects this sequence to run its course before the year is out. But, running out of license plate numbers isn't as alarming as it might sound: California officials has already announced the next sequence.
It's relatively difficult to predict precisely when California will issue its last current-style plate, but in June 2024, The Sacramento Bee wrote that the California DMV was sitting on about 18 months' worth of license plate numbers, pegging the final current-style plate for the end of the year. The system, which started with 1AAA000, will be replaced with its reverse. The new system will consist of three numbers, three letters, and one number, so the first one could be something like 000AAA1 or 001AAA1 or 100AAA1 depending on whether or how they exactly implement the existing "no leading zeroes" rule.
It's relatively difficult to predict precisely when California will issue its last current-style plate, but in June 2024, The Sacramento Bee wrote that the California DMV was sitting on about 18 months' worth of license plate numbers, pegging the final current-style plate for the end of the year. The system, which started with 1AAA000, will be replaced with its reverse. The new system will consist of three numbers, three letters, and one number, so the first one could be something like 000AAA1 or 001AAA1 or 100AAA1 depending on whether or how they exactly implement the existing "no leading zeroes" rule.
Should copy Virginia - Personalize! (Score:5, Funny)
$10/year for personalized plates. Makes driving that much more entertaining.
And the ever hilarious VA "Kids First" plate someone registered with "EAT THE" party poopers complained and got it revoked.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne... [dailymail.co.uk]
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Not fascinating, interesting, in the sense of "may you live in interesting times".
Perhaps California has made the weird decision that so called "Vanity Plates" are illegal. Most states just do them, and charge a small amount for it. I have an Amateur Radio license plate.
But damn, must be a slow news day - wut, no AI apocalypse stories for us to all wring our hands about?
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I think the AIcalypse has been less popular recently than the neverending "Sam Altman (or some other LLM peddler) thinks ..." articles.
Speaking of which, what is Sam Altman thinking? It's been almost a day without the site being his personal news clipping service.
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no AI apocalypse stories for us to all wring our hands about?
I like to tell people clutching their pearls over AI that I'm not worried. AI's attention span is only as long as it's power cords and I have wire cutters.
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It's a custom request, should be absolutely legal to charge extra for it.
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It should cost extra to have the plate made, sure. But it shouldn't (as some jurisdictions I know of here in Australia do) have an additional annual fee for the personalized plate.
Re: Should copy Virginia - Personalize! (Score:1)
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Re: Should copy Virginia - Personalize! (Score:2)
If you are recalling the same study I'm thinking of, it was a correlation between the number of stickers regardless of content, and road rage.
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On that note, I am actually from Greenland and we absolutely hate the idea of the United States invading Greenland
7 slots. a-z + 1-9 (no 0 because O vs 0) (Score:3)
= 64,339,296,875 possible plate combinations.
We love cars, but we're gonna be fine.
Re: 7 slots. a-z + 1-9 (no 0 because O vs 0) (Score:3, Insightful)
Only assuming the number is completely unstructured. The current and new formats each allow 10^4 * 24^3 (assuming no o or i) which is 138,240,000. California has about 1.8m new cars a year, so this new format is good for about 76 years.
Re: 7 slots. a-z + 1-9 (no 0 because O vs 0) (Score:4, Interesting)
Except that the current one lasted 45 years. No leading zeroes accounts for a bit of the discrepancy, but there must be some additional factor at play.
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Hmm, well I used the figure for car sales, but I guess commercial vehicles and motorbikes need to be added on. Then there's cars being re-registered from other states. Do cars get a new number if they're de-registered and re-registered later? And I guess some combinations are probably banned as they spell something offensive. Some numbers seem to have been skipped, and you need a bit of headroom to give you time to bring in a new system. So 45 years is about right.
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Do they not recycle numbers?
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Do they not recycle numbers?
That would be a good question - apparently California does not. Certainly in my state of PA, there is nothing prohibiting it.
If I were to hazard a guess, the Cali system was designed long before it was so easy to track different license numbers, as in they were kept track of on paper.
Re:7 slots. a-z + 1-9 (no 0 because O vs 0) (Score:4, Funny)
Why so many? (Score:1)
= 64,339,296,875 possible plate combinations.
We love cars, but we're gonna be fine.
Why so many number plates, and so many new cars needing them?
Oh, yeah right: because having an actual public transport system that works in the USA is considered "communism".
(Said as a smug European).
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Yeah. I want to take a bus to Costco and try bringing home two carts full groceries every week, along with my wheelchair, on that bus. Sounds like a wonderful idea.
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Free delivery generally fixes that issue.
Even if it cost a little more, getting rid of the cost of a vehicle would pay for weekly deliveries easily.
Expand the character set (Score:2)
I would suggest adding @, $. #, %, and &. As possible numbers.
This would expand the space that consists of 3 numbers from 1000 to 3375; a 340% increase in the number of available sequences.
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You're on a computer technology Web site. A, B, C, D, E and F are perfectly acceptable (hexadecimal) digits to expand the numbering scheme, and won't make license plates look like cartoon profanity.
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Why not just go the whole way and issue GUIDs?
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Encoded how? We use letters in some positions on license plate numbers because there are more than 16 letters. Still, an eight-digit base32 number is only 40 bits, versus 128 bits for a GUID. Eight-character license plates are already pushing the limit of readability with the current US plate width.
I have a solution! (Score:5, Funny)
"Numberplate Address Translation"
Most cars rarely leave their home town. So allocate number plates to each city. Then cities issue their own internal number plates, and any cars leaving the city just borrow a city-owned plate for the trip. The city keeps a registrar of which local plate corresponds to which state plate at any given time.
This of course is just a temporary measure, until the new national 16-letter number-plate system is launched. It will take a few years for everyone to update their forms to accommodate that.
Re:I have a solution! (Score:4, Informative)
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Many states in the south love to put the owner's county of residence on their plates.
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Nebraska, right in the middle, does as well.
Given that they number by population, IE omaha is #1, Lincoln #2, and so on. There is a touch of an issue because 63 and 64 trade places regularly.
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Texas is getting close too (Score:3)
We had something similar in the UK (Score:4, Informative)
Re: We had something similar in the UK (Score:2)
Our (California's) plates also stay with the vehicle as long as the registration doesn't lapse, and sometimes then as well.
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The dimensions of the plate and the letters are mandated, but other than that, each state does its own thing. They introduce new color schemes including pictorial backgrounds apparently at their own whims. California has like five different custom plates with various exorbitant prices.
LPv6 (Score:2)
I really don't think they will end up rolling out the new license plates (LPv6) as soon as predicted. Most of the existing license plates will just be used behind a NAT.