Where is the license plate sensing chip located?
3 Answers
The license plate sensing chip is located at the "small dot" at the beginning of the license plate. This small dot serves as the sensing chip. More details about license plates are introduced below: 1. Definition of a license plate: It refers to the vehicle license plate, which is a panel hung on both the front and rear of the vehicle; 2. Material composition: The commonly used materials are aluminum, plastic, or stickers, displaying the vehicle's registration number, registration region, or other basic information; 3. Function of the license plate number: The license plate serves as a unique identifier for each vehicle, allowing identification of the province, city, or county to which the vehicle belongs. The vehicle management office can use the license plate to trace the vehicle's owner.
Actually, asking where the license plate sensing chip is located seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding. Normally, the license plate itself doesn't have any chip; the chips are usually in other parts of the vehicle. For example, in the common ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) system, the sensing chip is actually installed in a small box on the inside of the windshield, called an OBU device. When you drive through a toll station, the system interacts with the antenna for toll collection. The license plate is mainly captured by cameras for optical recognition, not through a built-in chip. Some vehicles may also have additional RFID tags, but these are usually attached near the rearview mirror or the hood, not on the license plate. This design is mainly to avoid damage or theft of the chip and to facilitate maintenance and inspection. So, next time, don't bother searching the license plate; instead, focus on checking the location of the ETC device installed in the car, typically at the top center of the windshield. Also, make sure to have it installed properly to ensure the signal doesn't interfere with driving visibility.
From a technical perspective, license plate sensing chips are typically not embedded in the metal plate itself. Vehicle identification primarily relies on external systems, such as cameras in intelligent transportation systems or RFID readers that capture license plate information. Inside the vehicle, there may be sensing chips—for example, in the ETC unit (Electronic Toll Collection) attached to the windshield for toll payments. If the vehicle is equipped with IoT functionality, chip modules might also be integrated into the front bumper or roof antenna. The reason chips are not placed directly on the license plate is that metal plates can interfere with wireless signal transmission and are prone to corrosion from rain or snow, leading to malfunctions. As someone who enjoys tinkering with such components, I've noticed most chips are positioned at a distance from the license plate for easier maintenance and longer lifespan. If there’s a tag or sticker on the plate, it’s likely not a core sensing component but rather an auxiliary device for anti-theft or tracking systems. Understanding these details can help avoid unnecessary repair costs.
