Dubai: Vehicle number plates with the new Dubai ‘brand’ logo will be available from the end of the year, a senior Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) official said.

The new plates, which are not mandatory, will be available for purchase only through smart channels.

“The new number plates are just another option for people to have. We will not replace the existing ones with these. Those who want the new plates can have them any time and not necessarily during the renewal,” said Ahmad Hashim Behroozian, CEO of RTA’s Licensing Agency.

Expected to cost slightly more then the existing ones, RTA will have the new plates delivered at your doorstep.

“We will only accept online or mobile applications and the number plates can either be delivered through courier or can be collected from a pre-selected RTA customer care centre. We also intend to keep the prices of the plates at affordable levels so that everybody is able to buy it. The plates are not something for the elite only,” added Behroozian.

The existing plates — long and short — are available for Dh35 and Dh25 respectively.

Number plates in Dubai haven’t changed for decades. Currently, the Dubai number plates come in different colours, with private vehicles having white plates with numbers in black, while commercial vehicles have green plates with white numbers and, recently, RTA launched number plates for classic cars, which are maroon in colour.

RTA is also working on introducing smart number plates to go with the smart initiatives as part of Dubai Smart Government projects.

Behroozian confirmed that a pilot will be launched for the smart or electronic number plates by year-end.

Among the features of the smart plate is that it can control the speed of a vehicle according to the limit on a particular road, helping improve safety, particularly on internal roads.

“There are various technologies that we are looking at, basically the smart plates have RFID chips that can help us introduce smart applications through it, while the motorists can also have many benefits,” said Behroozian.

Other benefits of the technology are integration with RTA’s Salik, storage of data that can allow authorities to track movement of vehicles and identify criminals, auto deduction of parking fees, as well as easing entry to and exit from parking areas, without the need for swipe cards.