California considers electronic driver registration cards

SACRAMENTO — California vehicle owners may soon be able to update their license plates with digital frames instead of stickers.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles recently completed piloting the technology, which could automatically update a registration with an electronic frame, negating the need to hand apply stickers for the year and month. The DMV is now in the regulation development phase to eventually roll them out to consumers.

The digital frame is the latest in a string of products designed to improve the efficiency of the vehicle registration process as mandated by AB 984, which California lawmakers approved last year.

Under AB 984, the DMV is required to adopt regulations authorizing eligible companies to issue alternatives to the conventional system of plastic-coated registration stickers, metal license plates and paper registration cards that Californians have used for years.

In 2013, the legislature authorized the DMV to establish a pilot program to evaluate the use of such alternatives.

So far, the DMV has approved three products: an electronic registration card, a license plate wrap that can be applied to the fronts of vehicles that lack license plate brackets and a digital license plate.

Since their approval last October, digital license plates are now used on 23,060 vehicles in the state and license plate wraps are used on another 6,487, though vehicle owners still need to have a traditional license plate in their possession.

Electronic registration cards have not yet rolled out to the general public. They are currently only in use with DMV employees.