AirTag technology could help car owners.
Auto theft affects everyone on the road.
AirTags will be given to some car owners in the Washington area.
Auto theft is a scourge that affects every car owner. It’s true that North America’s major centers are more at risk for vehicle ownership, especially for some SUV models that are highly prized by criminal networks.
Yet there are ways to counteract this trend. There are, of course, the more traditional methods (alarm system, anti-theft bar, etc.), but there’s also post-theft tracking, which can minimize the effects of auto theft, provided law enforcement is involved in the process of course.
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Browser may have found an even simpler solution to further reduce the harmful effects of auto theft on North American society. In fact, the mayor of the US capital has decided to distribute AirTags from Apple to a targeted clientele in certain specific areas of the city.
The small tags, which can be placed virtually anywhere on or inside a vehicle, can be tracked for an estimated period of six months. The technology doesn’t need a wireless connection to work but uses nearby Apple smart devices to send its position to the car owner’s device where the AirTag is located. Thus, if the circular-shaped gadget detects an Apple smart device not far from the vehicle, it is able to “communicate” the position of the vehicle, stolen or not.
Unsurprisingly, criminals have their ways of finding these tags and stopping the signal they send to the owner, but by hiding them well inside the vehicle and notifying the authorities as soon as the vehicle theft is discovered, the chances of finding the vehicle before it’s completely stolen are greater for the owner of the vehicle in question.
It will be interesting to see how the situation develops in these high-risk Washington neighborhoods. With a bit of luck, this simple solution could very well change the game, although auto theft rings are also armed with a thousand and one ways to get away with your vehicle.
