Autoklass

Mission
Autoklass is the biggest Mercedes dealer and service chain in Romania. It has 7 locations around the country. Thousands of cars enter these locations every day. The company has its own system of management for cars programmed for service work, but wanted a way to record automatically every vehicle entering the locations.

Solution
Metrici LPR software was installed at the entrances of each service, along with two inductive loops: one before the gate, the others after the gate. The software detects cars at the entrance and opens the gate. If in a predetermined interval (30 seconds) passes by the second loop, questions the third party if that particular vehicle is recorded in database with an “open command”. In case of negative answers, an alert is sent to certain mail addresses.

In particular, special for this first installation Metrici developed a special firmware for Barix Barionet 50 LAN controller. This hardware device in combination with the firmware, Metrici software and instalation on site is used to receive and send triggers depending on the events. Each location has two Barix Barionet 50 and each one is linked to a gate, inductive loops and Metrici software.
If a car passes over an inductive loop, a trigger is sent from Barix to Metrici to start detection. The number plate and photo are recorded in Metrici’s database and also are sent to Autoklass Management System. The external system tell Metrici and Barix to open the gate.
In an interval of 30 seconds, if the second loop is activated, that means a car entered the location. This is the moment when Barix sends a second trigger to the external system to check if the car which has just entered has a command for service repair. If the answer is negative, an alert is sent to different e-mail addresses of the managers in a form such as:


Timisoara: On 2017-11-21 15:34:04, a vehicle entered without an open command, number plate : TM44AKT.
Vehcile belongs to:NO CLIENT
Timestamp : Nov 21 2017 3:34PM


Besides that text information a photo is attached to the mail with a still image from the moment of detection. Also, Metrici LPR records events if the vehicle has no license plate or this is not recognized. In such case the number played will be displayed as UNKNOWN, but no matter what, a photo with the event is also attached to the mail.

Autoklass technical data for each location

  • 2 Axis P1425-LE cameras
  • 2 low-pass filters
  • 1 Metrici LPR BL license
  • 1 Metrici LPR EL license
  • 2 inductive loops
  • 2 Metrici LAN Controllers with customized firmware
  • 2 barriers
  • Integration with third party software

Results
The first installation was made at Autoklass service in Chitila. After the success recorded here, the company chose to install same solutions in every of the 7 service locations. The company has events in database with cars entering the services without appointment.