Using neural networks to build an automatic number plate recognition system. See this blog post for an explanation.

Usage is as follows:

1. ./extractbgs.py SUN397.tar.gz: Extract ~3GB of background images from the SUN database into bgs/. (bgs/ must not already exist.) The tar file (36GB) can be downloaded here. This step may take a while as it will extract 108,634 images.

2. ./gen.py 1000: Generate 1000 test set images in test/. (test/ must not already exist.) This step requires UKNumberPlate.ttf to be in the current directory, which can be downloaded here.

3. ./train.py: Train the model. A GPU is recommended for this step.

4. ./detect.py in.jpg weights.npz out.jpg: Detect number plates in an image.

The project has the following dependencies:

• TensorFlow
• OpenCV
• NumPy