The mundane vehicle license plate, along with the windshield wiper a virtually unchanged vestige from the dawn of the automobile, is in the midst of a 21st-century makeover.

Several companies are applying digital technology to what has long been just a slab of metal, in hopes of making it cheaper to update your vehicle’s registration — and turning it into a portal to the connected world.

Such changes benefit the vehicle owner as well as state motor vehicle regulators, according to Reviver Auto, a company in Foster City, Calif., that has developed technology to swap old-fashioned stamped plates for digital screens.

“This is not about a license plate,” Reviver’s chief executive, Neville Boston, said. “It’s about connection. With a digital plate, you can be all connected in just one place.”