Police in Australia are making use of Apple’s CarPlay in-car infotainment software to display information about surrounding vehicles’ license plates.
While Australian police have used CarPlay in their vehicles to aid in their policing, they are now able to use the system to display information about vehicles by automatically scanning surrounding license plates.
A Motorola press release tells about how the Western Australia Police Force updated its PSCore mobile app to add automatic number plate recognition (ANPR). The system is used to display information about nearby vehicles.
The update to the PSCore app enables the system to now display data from the ANPR system on the police vehicle’s CarPlay-compatible infotainment display, actiing as a replacement for an aftermarket device that was installed in the vehicle. The new feature now provides police with the same functionality as before, but on their vehicle’s infotainment screen.
“Real-time ANPR data helps to ensure that front-line officers are more aware of potential risks and able to make better decisions,” said Superintendent Dean Snashall, Technology Portfolio, WA Police Force. He says the app “helps our officers to document incidents faster and more accurately, freeing more of their time to protect our communities.”
CarPlay ANPR support has so far been been installed in 80+ of the police force’s vehicles.
The police force has used the PSCore app with CarPlay for a few years already, and the app has been installed on more than 6,000 mobile devices used by the force.
