The app is shown on parked cars. What I want to know is whether it works on occupied ones, because that would change what it is for.
Scanning a parked car tells you whether to bother stealing it. Scanning one at a junction with someone in it tells you whether to bother pulling them out, which is a much more sinister and much more interesting tool.
Scanning a car at a junction and deciding based on the number is a genuinely unpleasant thing to be able to do, which is exactly why I think it will be in there.
and it would tie the criminal profile in nicely. picking targets by value is a very different act to taking whatever is nearby
Only parked cars have been shown. Nothing rules out occupied vehicles and nothing supports it.
Your framing of what each version would mean is the interesting part. A tool for choosing which parked car to take is inventory management. A tool for choosing which person to rob is something else entirely.
ok that reply just made a car scanning app the most interesting thing in the game somehow
That is the answer I was reaching for without being able to say it. The app is a moral system pretending to be a convenience.