Number plate recognition (ANPR) for Kenyan fuel stations
AutoVision reads vehicle number plates from your forecourt cameras and links each plate to what the vehicle did: which pump it used, whether the driver visited the shop, and how often it returns. It is built and tuned for Kenyan plates using footage from real Kenyan forecourts.
What ANPR does on a forecourt
- Counts unique vehicles entering the station, not just detections.
- Links a plate to its pump visit, and estimates pump-to-shop conversion from timing and presence.
- Recognises repeat vehicles, so you can see loyal customers and visit frequency.
- Raises hotlist alerts for vehicles of interest that the station itself has listed.
- Gives an auditable record of entries and exits for security teams.
Kenyan plates
Kenyan private vehicles typically carry a registration made of three letters beginning with K, three digits and a final letter. Motorcycles, commercial and government vehicles use other layouts. AutoVision looks for both the white front plate and the yellow two-line rear plate, prefers reads that fit Kenyan layouts, and corrects common character slips so that a simple misread is less likely to be counted as a new vehicle.
How reliable is plate reading?
Plate reading depends on camera angle, distance, lighting and the vehicle itself. Motorcycles and vehicles seen from the side are often unreadable, and one plate can be read slightly differently in different frames. AutoVision shows how many vehicles had a plate read, marks the rest as unread instead of guessing, and keeps unread vehicles in the counts.
We assess each site during the survey, because camera placement is the biggest factor in read rate.
Privacy and responsibility
A number plate can identify a person, so plate data is personal data under Kenya's Data Protection Act, 2019. Stations using ANPR should display clear signage, restrict who can search plates and keep data only as long as they need it. Hotlists are created and managed by the station.
Frequently asked questions
Does ANPR work at night?
It can, with suitable cameras and lighting, but headlight glare and distance make reading harder. We check night performance on your own footage during the site survey.
Can AutoVision tell the make and model of a car?
In beta, yes for some vehicles. AutoVision labels a vehicle's make and model only when it is confident, and shows less certain guesses separately as likely, so the dashboard never presents a guess as fact.
Is a hotlist the same as a police database?
No. Hotlists in AutoVision are lists the station creates itself, for example vehicles that left without paying or banned vehicles.
Can I use ANPR without the rest of the analytics?
ANPR is one capability of the AutoVision platform, alongside pump occupancy, queue and shop analytics. Contact us to discuss what your station needs.
Keep reading
- Fuel station analyticsFuel station analytics from your existing CCTV: live pump occupancy, queues, ANPR and shop conversion. Built in Nairobi by DataFly Ltd.
- Pump occupancyPump occupancy analytics for fuel stations: how long vehicles occupy each pump, which pump is slowest, and when queues form. Honest, defensible numbers.
- How we measureThe exact method behind AutoVision's pump occupancy figures: what counts as a session, how averages are calculated, what is excluded and what limits remain.