High-Speed Camera Identifies Car Models and Number Plates up to 200kph

Hanwha Vision recently put its new high-speed camera through its paces at Chambley Grand Est racing track in France, where it successfully identified sports cars being driven at speeds of up to 265kph, even at night.

The camera features Hanwha’s newly launched Road AI solution, which not only captures number plate details (ANPR), but also uses AI video analytics to identify the make, model and colour (MMCR) of detected vehicles, across 70 different automotive brands, 600 models, and 10 colours. The camera features a global shutter for greater accuracy and clarity of captured number plate images and a high frame rate of up to 60fps.

Camera Identifies Car Models at 200 kph

While the solution is designed to detect number plates and the make, model and colour of vehicles travelling at up to 200 kph (125 mph) across two lanes of traffic, in tests conducted on the closed racing circuit, it exceeded expectations by consistently identifying Porsche 911 GT3 and a Ferrari 488 models driven at speeds of up to 265kph (165mph) - not only in daytime but also at night!

Camera Was Tested and Installed at Racing Track

The test was held at a recent Hanwha Vision customer event held at the Chambley Grand Est circuit and Planet’air, near Metz. The on-site team set up the camera on the day with ease, using its onboard ANPR Setup Tool to correctly position and angle the camera for number plate capture. Entering the camera height and distance from the centre of the road, they quickly obtained the correct vertical, horizontal and roll angles to use, while a Road AI Setup Wizard tool – part of the Road AI application – confirmed the optimum plate capture area.

Results of the Test

Professional racing drivers were then invited to take to the 3.3 kilometre (2.1 mile) track in a range of high-performance cars to see if the system could recognise the cars travelling at speeds well beyond national limits. Capturing information on vehicles being driven at such high speeds presents a challenge for lesser cameras and systems; however, Hanwha Vision’s system worked perfectly, correctly identifying cars travelling at 265 kph (165 mph), equivalent to 74 metres per second!

The ability to search for vehicles by make, model and colour is a great help to investigating teams when looking to find footage of a vehicle involved in an incident.

“Our test confirms that the solution performs even at the very highest of speeds, and this is reassuring for law enforcement officers given that criminals frequently swap the licence number plates on vehicles in order to avoid ANPR identifying them as stolen,” said Mevlut Korkmaz, National Sales Manager at Hanwha Vision France.

“With our Road AI solution and high-speed camera, Police have reliable access to make, model and colour search criteria to cross-reference footage against reports of stolen vehicles”, Mevlut continued.

The camera can identify number plates and vehicle make/models from different regions ‘out of the box’, including Europe and the UK, Canada, the USA, Australia and New Zealand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Middle East, South Africa, and Russia.