What is this on this car?

[eschereal]

@Dewey_Finn

One of the companies making automated license plate readers is a division of 3M. So it’s possible that what the OP saw was one of the engineers testing the equipment?

Then why is his license plate not “MMM 001”?

[engineer_comp_geek]

Moderator Note

@Dana_Scully

No, and you should have blurred out the license plate; you’ve just invaded this person’s privacy and possibly endangered them.

The legal issues are being addressed in the ATMB thread here:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=822259

Anyone who wishes to comment further on the legal issues should post their comments in that thread. Let’s keep this thread restricted to identification of the device in question.

[mixdenny]

A Del Sol still driving? Christ, they must be time machines.

Dennis

[Bullitt]

I’ve twice seen a similar set up on a car where I live. On an Audi, IIRC. If I see it again I’ll look more closely to see if it is an ALPR system.

[JKilez]

@Crazyhorse

They look very much like license plate scanners to me.

They aren’t just used by law enforcement. He may be a repo man or private detective, technologist, or whatever. It isn’t a violation of privacy to take photos of things you see in public.

Look like scanners to me too. I have seen them drive through parking lots scanning both sides at once. They are set up to deal with both angled and perpendicular parking.

[scr4]

@Dewey_Finn

Here’s a link to a page about automated license plate scanners. The photo shows the trunk of a police car, with two boxes on the left and right sides. They look similar to the thing in the OP.

Except in the OP’s photo, all 4 devices are pointed sideways. All photos of license plate readers I could find have the 4 devices pointed in opposite directions (right forward, right rear, etc).

ETA: This might make sense if this guy was specifically scanning parked cars rather than cars sharing the road.

[Joey_P]

@scr4

Except in the OP’s photo, all 4 devices are pointed sideways. All photos of license plate readers I could find have the 4 devices pointed in opposite directions (right forward, right rear, etc).

ETA: This might make sense if this guy was specifically scanning parked cars rather than cars sharing the road.

He could also just be driving somewhere and not actually scanning at that moment.

[Munch]

@slash2k

And what about if you just took a photo of a woman walking down the street while wearing a skirt? Is that an invasion of privacy too?

I think you should be allowed to wear any sort of pants or skirts when out taking pictures of things in public.

[bobot]

wrong thread oops

[don_t_ask]

There are a few answers here for the same configuration.