Automatic number-plate recognition
technology that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates
Automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR; see also other names below) is a technology that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates to create vehicle location data. It can use existing closed-circuit television, road-rule enforcement cameras, or cameras specifically designed for the task. ANPR is used by police forces around the world for law enforcement purposes, including checking if a vehicle is registered or licensed. It is also used for electronic toll collection on pay-per-use roads and as a method of cataloguing the movements of traffic, for example by highways agencies.
Automatic number-plate recognition can be used to store the images captured by the cameras as well as the text from the license plate, with some configurable to store a photograph of the driver. Systems commonly use infrared lighting to allow the camera to take the picture at any time of day or night. ANPR technology must take into account plate variations from place to place.
Privacy issues have caused concerns about ANPR, such as government tracking citizens' movements, misidentification, high error rates, and increased government spending. Critics have described it as a form of mass surveillance.
Other names
ANPR is also known by various other terms:
Automatic (or automated) license-plate recognition (ALPR)
Automatic (or automated) license-plate reader (ALPR)
Automatic vehicle identification (AVI)
Danish: Automatisk nummerpladegenkendelse, lit. 'Automatic number plate recognition' (ANPG)
Car-plate recognition (CPR)
License-plate recognition (LPR)
French: Lecture automatique de plaques d'immatriculation, lit. 'Automatic reading of registration plates' (LAPI)
Mobile license-plate reader (MLPR)
Vehicle license-plate recognition (VLPR)
Vehicle recognition identification (VRI)
Development
ANPR was invented in 1976 at the Police Scientific Development Branch in Britain.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Automatic number-plate recognition” as technology that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q518031. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1976.
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This entry incorporates text from “Automatic number-plate recognition” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.