The views of a number of leading enforcement system manufacturers are presented regarding advances in automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems and whether there is a future for the technology. Further developments expected in the next 20 years and the effect of digitisation on the relationship between front- and back-end systems are discussed. ANPR using traditional non-electronic methods is compared with the use of Dedicated Short Range Communication and other electronic methods for vehicle identification. Whether there will still be a requirement for visual identification is considered and the linking of vehicle and driver identification and implications for civil liberties are examined. Whether impediments to progress are likely to be technological or legal is considered. All the manufacturers envisaged continuing technological enhancements and saw a futurefor ANPR technology. This was likely to be in combination with other technologies however.
Abstract