Skip to main content

Philadelphia police used a ‘Google Maps’ SUV to read license plates

philadelphia police suv license cameras google maps with map decal and plate
Philadelphia police SUV with Google Maps decal and two license plate cameras Matt Blaze (Twitter) @mattblaze
If you were near the Philadelphia Convention Center earlier this week, did you notice this vehicle in the tunnel? At first glance, it appears to be a Google Maps vehicle, maybe on a break, but University of Pennsylvania computer and information science professor Matt Blaze noticed two automated license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras on the roof. Blaze took a picture and tweeted it with the comment “WTF,” according to Motherboard. The immediate question that came to mind was, whose vehicle is it, and why does it have Google Maps decals?

ALPR cameras scan, track, and send license plate and vehicle data to a computer, which in Philadelphia can be stored up to a year. Because ALPR can effectively track an individual’s movements without a warrant, they’re considered controversial. According to ELSAG North America, a company that makes ALPRs and possibly the units in Blaze’s photo, “Generally speaking, License Plate Readers (LPRs) can record plates at about one per second at speeds of up to 100 mph and they often utilize infrared cameras for clarity and to facilitate reading at any time of day or night. The data collected can either be processed in real time, at the site of the read, or it can be transmitted to remote center and processed at a later time.”

The Philadelphia police department has been open about using the scanning technology since 2011, so the question remained about ownership and why it had the decals.

Google was contacted, but Google spokesperson Susan Cadrecha said, “We can confirm that this is not a Google Maps car, and that we are currently looking into the matter.”

Philadelphia fleet manager Christopher Cocci confirmed that the city owned the SUV. Cocci said it was not a state police vehicle, but that he thought it was used by law enforcement.

After contacting the Philadelphia police, Motherboard received the following response later the same afternoon: “We have been informed that this unmarked vehicle belongs to the police department; however, the placing of any particular decal on the vehicle was not approved through any chain of command. With that being said, once this was brought to our attention, it was ordered that the decals be removed immediately.” The department also said it was investigating the use of the labels.

So the question remains as to why the labels were used, but the surveillance camera SUV ownership inquiry, at least, is resolved.

Editors' Recommendations

Bruce Brown
Digital Trends Contributing Editor Bruce Brown is a member of the Smart Homes and Commerce teams. Bruce uses smart devices…
The Apple Car was reportedly dubbed ‘the Bread Loaf’
A man checks his phone in an Apple retail store in Grand Central Terminal.

A 2020 prototype of the so-called "Apple Car" was dubbed "the Bread Loaf" for its looks, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday.

In a deep dive into the costly project, which Apple canceled last month, the report described the vehicle as “a white minivan with rounded sides, an all-glass roof, sliding doors, and whitewall tires [that] was designed to comfortably seat four people and inspired by the classic flower-power Volkswagen microbus.”

Read more
The Rivian R2 SUV is up for preorder for only $45,000
Rivian R2

You can now get a Rivian without spending more than $70,000. After months of rumors and leaks, Rivian has finally taken the wraps off of the Rivian R2, its newest SUV, and the first to be built on the new Rivian R2 platform. The R2 is built to be Rivian's "Model 3 moment," or its attempt to build a car that's more accessible to the general public and thus could be sold at a much higher volume than the R1S or R1T ever were.

The R2 certainly cuts some corners to achieve the lower price point, but it actually still has a lot going for it -- especially as an electric SUV in this price range. It goes up against the likes of the Tesla Model Y, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Mustang Mach-E, and Kia EV6, but it's much more of an SUV than a crossover-sized car and should appeal to those who want something larger and with Rivian's design sensibility.

Read more
The R3 is Rivian’s surprise electric crossover
Rivian R3

Rivian didn't just announce the R2 platform at its latest launch event -- in a surprise twist, it also announced the R3 crossover. The R3 is Rivian's smallest car yet, offering a size much closer to the likes of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 than the SUVs that came before it.

Of course, not only is the Rivian R3 smaller, but presumably, it's also cheaper. Rivian didn't reveal actual pricing for the car, but it did say that it would be less than the R2's $45,000 price. Also, it may be some time before we start seeing the R3 on the road -- the car will follow the R2, which isn't set to be available until the first half of 2026.

Read more