Reading the Road: License Plate Readers and their Challenges

Intelligent transportation systems(ITS) is the city or state's use of technology to help solve their complex challenges. A growing concern for both is knowing how many cars are on their roads at any given time. Even more important is the need to map out the flow of traffic and adjust traffic lights accordingly. One of the most popular methods of collecting this information is by utilizing License Plate Readers(LPR) deployed throughout cities. So far, around 14 states have issued legislations around the deployment and storage of LPRs and their information collected. It is also not regulated by most state ITS chapters, so it is up to the cities how to deploy the technology and use the information they have gathered.