New Technology Tracks Signals from Your Car

A company based in Greensboro, North Carolina, is determined to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks regarding what’s happening inside your vehicle.

Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) systems have become common nationwide, and they are continuously advancing.

ALPR provider Flock has deployed over 100,000 cameras across the United States. With a straightforward upgrade, these cameras can pick up nearly any signal emitted from your car.

Teaming up with the Leonardo Company in North Carolina, their product, SignalTrace, is intended to capture unique signals emitted by various devices – essentially creating a digital fingerprint of the gadgets we regularly carry, like smartphones, smartwatches, Bluetooth accessories, and Wi-Fi signals.

According to the company, “SignalTrace links each digital fingerprint with a plate number through a shared timestamp.” So, any additional signals are grouped with the license plate profile.

This kind of data provides insights into when and where suspects are moving, and it can even show if multiple suspects are together.

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Leonardo claims to be collaborating with more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies globally, including contracts in states like New York, Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, New Mexico, and Ohio.

The company’s operations rely heavily on data integration, crafting profiles not only from license plate numbers but also through an intricate network that includes video cameras, license plate readers, and parking surveillance systems, along with SignalTrace.

All gathered information is saved in a database, which can be “queried and analyzed to aid investigations.” Interestingly, SignalTrace can also function effectively in areas like subways and shopping centers.

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Signals from the device are primarily aimed at matching license plates to individuals if a vehicle is reported stolen. Yet, they could also be useful in tracking wanted persons or even just people of interest.

If certain signals correspond with the legitimate owner of a license plate, these indicators can identify individuals even when they aren’t physically in the vehicle, operating as a sort of informal digital ID without consent.

Leonardo emphasizes that it values “an individual’s right to privacy” and does not decrypt or analyze content from the devices. It only reveals the signatures that typically travel together with a vehicle.