Chinese researchers have developed enforcement cameras which do not need to check number plates to identify them.
Researchers at Peking University say the technology identifies vehicles by by looking at scratches or irregularities in the paintwork, and the so-called "repression network" uses artificial intelligence to differentiate between cars by spotting tiny differences between them.
They say this will help the police as it means they can catch people who have changed the number plates on their car.
"License plates are often easily occluded, removed or even faked which makes license plates less relevant to each single vehicle," say the researchers.
They add that their software is so sophisticated it could someday also be used for 'face and persona retrieval'.
(Picture credit - from the Peking University paper)
