Electronic Number Plate RFID Keeps Tabs On Vehicles

A South African RFID design firm now offers Electronic Number Plate RFID technology. iPico Holdings says this technology is now being used in a pilot project in South America. (See What is RFID? to find out more about radio-frequency identification.)


(From RFID Journal)

The technology is being considered for electronic vehicle licensing, traffic and speed control, cross-border traffic control and other applications. The tags can be read at ordinary vehicle speeds.

This is a passive RFID tag, meaning that it does not need to carry batteries (and therefore will likely last for the life of the vehicle). The tag is attached to the windshield during the manufacturing process; any attempt to alter or remove the tag will damage it.

Science fiction fans may recall the Camden speedster, a car that not only went underwater, but would also alter it's license tag while in motion, in order to fool traffic control devices. Not a bad prediction for 1958, when Methuselah's Children was published (read the quote for traffic control camera). See the original story at Passive Tags Track Cars.

For another look at how people and objects can be tracked with RFID, see China May Issue A Billion RFID-Based ID Cards. Scroll down for more stories in the same category.