What does the future hold for our vehicle number plates . The traditional primary means of identifying vehicles has become more and more important as we move to a camera based enforcement and taxation system. Large sums of money have been spent on technology which reads the digits on a vehicle registration plate but would it have been better to embed a small transponder in each plate which could be identified cheaply by roadside detectors. Will the current path of development of these ANPRS systems be followed or maybe a new technology is just around the corner which will make previous systems redundant.