In the Moscow region, a shift is underway in how vehicles are registered, with new license plate codes appearing as 250 and 550 to designate vehicles registered in this area. This update was reported by autonews.ru, which cited the regional press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as the source for the information about the rollout plan and timelines.
The authorities indicated that starting in 2020, residents of the Moscow region would receive state license plates bearing the 790 region code. As the process continues, plates carrying the 250 region code are expected to be issued, and there is also an anticipation that the 550 series will be introduced in the near future. This sequence suggests a broad modernization of regional identifiers and aims to keep registration practices aligned with evolving administrative needs and vehicle management across the area.
Beyond the administrative updates, researchers from MISIS University of Science and Technology have collaborated with specialists from CITYLABS to advance vehicle monitoring through CCTV systems. The collaboration focuses on improving the accuracy of license plate recognition in varying conditions, which is essential for security and traffic management. The work explores how the cameras can reliably read plates even when lighting or blur challenges appear in real-world environments.
To assess how clearly license plates are illuminated under different lighting scenarios, the team recommends applying brightness histogram analysis. In tandem with this, the widely used yolo-v5 neural network is employed to detect both vehicles and the license plates themselves. This combination of computer vision techniques aims to enhance the reliability of automated plate recognition, which can support law enforcement, tolling systems, and traffic analytics in busy urban settings.
There were earlier warnings about devices designed to obscure license plates, a reminder that security and accountability in vehicle identification remain active concerns. The ongoing development of detection methods and the update of region codes underscore a broader effort to maintain transparent and effective vehicle registration processes while addressing potential attempts to bypass monitoring systems.