Smart digital license plate company ReviverMX Inc. has a deal with Ford Motor Co. making its license plates an official aftermarket product offering on Ford vehicles.
The agreement means that Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford (NYSE: F) is the first automaker to offer a digital license plate.
“It’s a lot of validation for us because they did exhaustive testing,” said Bob Wood, CEO of ReviverMX, which is based in Granite Bay.
The move means that Reviver digital plates get a Ford part number and are considered original equipment manufacturer parts for Ford vehicles, whether they are pre-installed by Ford, by a distributor or by the dealer.
Having a part number makes the digital plate eligible for financing under Ford Credit.
For now, the Reviver RPlate is available from more than 300 Ford dealerships in Arizona, California and Michigan, the states where the issuance of RPlates is legal under state laws. Reviver is adding more states.
Reviver's digital plates automate annual registration, feature geotracking and can display custom messages. The Reviver plate uses a bistable digital screen, which requires no flowing electrical current to show an image.
Until now, Reviver has sold its license plates directly to customers, through new car dealerships and to fleet operators.
Through reciprocity rules, license plates legally issued in one state are legal throughout North America. To get the individual states to issue the digital plates requires legislation or regulatory approval.
RPlates are legal for fleets in Texas and the company is finalizing approvals in Georgia, Colorado and Illinois. It's in the process of getting approvals in Florida, New York, New Jersey and Oregon, Wood said.
“To be associated with a landmark brand in the automotive industry such as Ford is truly gratifying,” said Neville Boston, Reviver's founder and chief strategy officer, in a news release. “We are very proud to have met the rigorous requirements for the company’s evaluation of potential suppliers and look forward to adding the innovations of digital license plate technology to their offerings."
The RFleet Rplate offers fleet managers real-time vehicle tracking, geofencing, trip logging and speeding alerts. The plates have a mode that flashes "STOLEN" if the vehicle is stolen.
The 2009 startup moved to Granite Bay from the East Bay in 2020. It is a portfolio company of Folsom venture capital firm Moneta Ventures.
ReviverMX has 84 employees.
