OCR-car enforcement works in two clear stages: the on-board camera records evidence of the irregularity and, afterward, a qualified traffic officer decides on the fine in line with the CTB (Brazilian Traffic Code). The vehicle drives along the Zona Azul streets — Brazil's paid rotational street parking — reading the plates of parked cars; when it identifies a vehicle without an active session, it documents everything (plate, date, time, GPS and photo). The technology gathers the evidence — the fine, when it happens, follows the legal process conducted by a public authority.
Step by step
- Street sweep: the OCR car drives through the regulated area, automatically reading the plate of every parked vehicle.
- Verification: the system checks whether that plate has an active paid session at that moment.
- Evidence record: where there is an indication of an irregularity, the vehicle records the plate, date, time, GPS coordinates and a photo of the car in the space.
- Review and fine: the evidence is forwarded so that a qualified traffic officer can assess it and, where appropriate, issue the infraction notice within the legal process.
Note that step 4 is human and administrative: the OCR car does not issue a fine on its own.
Aretron AI and plate reading
At the heart of the reading is the Aretron artificial intelligence, which uses the Focal Loss algorithm to recognize plates with high accuracy even in adverse conditions (motion, low light, dirty or angled plates). The better the recognition, the more reliable the evidence and the lower the risk of error. This performance scales because Areatec operates the largest OCR fleet in the world, enforcing far more spaces per hour than the manual model would allow.
The chain of evidence
Each finding generates an intact chain of evidence: the plate read, date and time, GPS position and a photograph, with a timestamp and digital record. This package gives legal certainty to the administration and, equally, guarantees the driver the right to review and appeal. The camera documents; it does not judge.
From finding to fine: the NPU → TPU → fine sequence
Identifying an irregularity does not mean an immediate fine. In cities that adopt the regularization model, the flow is usually:
| Stage | What it is | Nature |
|---|---|---|
| NPU | Post-Use Notice: warns that the time expired or that the session was never activated | Notice |
| TPU | Post-Use Fee: a second chance to regularize by paying a fee | Municipal fee (not a fine, no license points) |
| Fine, Art. 181, XVII | Only if the TPU is not paid does the case become an infraction notice | Federal traffic infraction |
Important: the TPU is municipal and varies from city to city — it may or may not exist, and its amount and deadline change according to local law (e.g., City A with a lower fee and short deadline; City B with a higher amount and a deadline of days). The fine under Art. 181, XVII, however, is a serious infraction, with a fixed federal amount of R$ 195.23, 5 license points and removal of the vehicle — the municipality issues the notice but does not set that amount.
The simplest way to avoid the whole sequence is to keep your paid session active. In the cities served by Areatec, this is done in seconds through the Digipare app.