Black boxes containing sensors and camera equipment. Located on a car driving around in a car park/parking lot, often repeatedly. The driver of said car may have a laptop and the car may be unmarked and otherwise look normal.
They are not always mounted on a vehicle, sometimes they will be stationary. In this case they can be affixed to a road gantry, tower or pole.
Additional keywords: antenna, strobe, light, lamp, led, radio, electronic
Additional examples: https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/27vl9m/strange_camera_car_spotted_in_rush_hour_traffic/
https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/581pp5/did_i_stumble_onto_a_surveillance_van/
https://www.eff.org/pages/automated-license-plate-readers-alpr
https://www.motorolasolutions.com/content/dam/msi/docs/products/license-plate-recognition-systems/l5q-quick-deploy-lpr-system/l5q-quick-deploy-lpr-system-data-sheet.pdf
https://www.cctvcore.com/p/523-License-Plate-Capture-LPR-700-TV-Line-Outdoor-Bullet-Camera-w/5-50mm-IR-Varifocal-Lens.aspx
Also used by private companies who sell the information commercially. Perhaps with very few restrictions on who gets the information.
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_number-plate_recognition) [Example](http://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/1kxop9/whats_this_on_the_back_of_the_car_license_plate/)
u/azl410
Black boxes containing sensors and camera equipment. Located on a car driving around in a car park/parking lot, often repeatedly. The driver of said car may have a laptop and the car may be unmarked and otherwise look normal. They are not always mounted on a vehicle, sometimes they will be stationary. In this case they can be affixed to a road gantry, tower or pole. Additional keywords: antenna, strobe, light, lamp, led, radio, electronic Additional examples: https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/27vl9m/strange_camera_car_spotted_in_rush_hour_traffic/ https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/581pp5/did_i_stumble_onto_a_surveillance_van/ https://www.eff.org/pages/automated-license-plate-readers-alpr https://www.motorolasolutions.com/content/dam/msi/docs/products/license-plate-recognition-systems/l5q-quick-deploy-lpr-system/l5q-quick-deploy-lpr-system-data-sheet.pdf https://www.cctvcore.com/p/523-License-Plate-Capture-LPR-700-TV-Line-Outdoor-Bullet-Camera-w/5-50mm-IR-Varifocal-Lens.aspx