Rishon LeZion, Israel – December 1, 2008 – Hi-Tech Solutions Ltd. (HTS), a developer and provider of optical character recognition (OCR) computer vision systems, today announced that its License Plate Recognition (LPR) system – SeeCar – has been selected as the automatic solution for vehicle access control in more than 20 municipal parking lots located in Tel Aviv, Israel. The parking lots are managed by the Ahuzot Hahof municipal company, which operates the Tel Aviv Municipality's 110 parking lots. HTS’s LPR system is integrated in Fast Park, a comprehensive automatic parking management system, developed by AFCON Control & Automation and T.I.B.A., an AFCON subsidiary. So far, the system has been successfully implemented at six municipal parking lots.
HTS’s LPR system automatically reads and identifies the license plate of each car entering the parking lot. The information is checked against a database of cars owned by Tel Aviv residents holding a resident's card, who are eligible for discounted parking in municipal parking lots. Cars owned by holders of resident's cards are also eligible for overnight free parking according to their residential zones (Tel Aviv is divided into eight parking zones).
Via the interface to the municipal database, and the LPR input, the system knows when to permit the resident to park for free and when to calculate a discount, or identifies a non-resident and demands full payment. As a vehicle enters the parking facility, its license plate number is included on the parking ticket issued at the entrance to the parking facility. The parking fee is paid via a pay on foot (POF) machine according to the length of stay, and special discounts if applicable, according the license plate number associated with the ticket.
"The LPR systems enable automatic access control at the parking lots, saving resources and preventing mistakes in calculating the parking fees through manual means," said Roni Ikar, CEO of Ahuzot Hahof. "In addition, it prevents bottlenecks at the entrance and exit points, thereby enhancing improved service to drivers."
"The Ahuzot Hahof project is another milestone in our LPR business around the world, including many implementations of LPR systems in parking lots and garages, as well as at other facilities, compounds and highways," said Meta Rotenberg, HTS’s VP Business Development. "This project is a testament to the superior reliability of our systems."
"We selected HTS’s LPR systems due to the quality of the system and the successful implementation of these systems in numerous places," said Shay Rozenblat, Manager of Security and Systems Division, AFCON Control and Automation. "The Ahuzot Hahof project is a very large and sophisticated project, and it can serve as a model for municipal parking lots worldwide."
HTS’s LPR solutions implement proprietary image processing software architecture and algorithms for character and digit recognition, and specially developed camera and illumination systems optimally designed for capturing the target images. HTS’s LPR system includes self-developed recognition engine software for simple integration into other applications.
