# On the Cross-dataset Generalization in License Plate Recognition

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.00267 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.00267/

## Key facts

- Cited by 22 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 22 of its 60 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 2 Jan 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 22 of 22)

- [You Only Look Once: Unified, Real-Time Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.02640/) (2015)
- [YOLOv4: Optimal Speed and Accuracy of Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.10934/) (2020)
- [Albumentations: fast and flexible image augmentations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.06839/) (2018)
- [An End-to-End Trainable Neural Network for Image-based Sequence Recognition and Its Application to Scene Text Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1507.05717/) (2015)
- [What Is Wrong With Scene Text Recognition Model Comparisons? Dataset and Model Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.01906/) (2019)
- [Robust Scene Text Recognition with Automatic Rectification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.03915/) (2016)
- [A Deeper Look at Dataset Bias](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.01257/) (2015)
- [Vision Transformer for Fast and Efficient Scene Text Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.08582/) (2021)
- [Recursive Recurrent Nets with Attention Modeling for OCR in the Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.03101/) (2016)
- [Rosetta: Large scale system for text detection and recognition in images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.05085/) (2019)
- [A Robust Real-Time Automatic License Plate Recognition Based on the YOLO Detector](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.09567/) (2018)
- [An Efficient and Layout-Independent Automatic License Plate Recognition System Based on the YOLO detector](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.01754/) (2019)
- [A Robust Attentional Framework for License Plate Recognition in the Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.03919/) (2020)
- [Benchmark for License Plate Character Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.02937/) (2016)
- [Rethinking and Designing a High-performing Automatic License Plate Recognition Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.14936/) (2020)
- [Vehicle-Rear: A New Dataset to Explore Feature Fusion for Vehicle Identification Using Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.05541/) (2019)
- [Towards Image-based Automatic Meter Reading in Unconstrained Scenarios: A Robust and Efficient Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.10181/) (2020)
- [Learning to Unlearn: Building Immunity to Dataset Bias in Medical Imaging Studies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.01716/) (2018)
- [Tell me what you see: A zero-shot action recognition method based on natural language descriptions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.09976/) (2021)
- [License Plate Detection and Recognition Using Deeply Learned Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.07330/) (2017)
- [Convolutional Neural Networks for Automatic Meter Reading](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.09600/) (2019)
- [DELP-DAR System for License Plate Detection and Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.01853/) (2019)

## Built on by (most cited first, 22 of 22)

- [A First Look at Dataset Bias in License Plate Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.10657/) (2022)
- [Do We Train on Test Data? The Impact of Near-Duplicates on License Plate Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.04653/) (2023)
- [Combining Attention Module and Pixel Shuffle for License Plate Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.16836/) (2022)
- [Leveraging Model Fusion for Improved License Plate Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.04331/) (2023)
- [Super-Resolution of License Plate Images Using Attention Modules and Sub-Pixel Convolution Layers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.17313/) (2023)
- [Enhancing License Plate Super-Resolution: A Layout-Aware and Character-Driven Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.15103/) (2024)
- [Advancing Multinational License Plate Recognition Through Synthetic and Real Data Fusion: A Comprehensive Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.07671/) (2026)
- [Toward Enhancing Vehicle Color Recognition in Adverse Conditions: A Dataset and Benchmark](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.11589/) (2024)
- [Toward Advancing License Plate Super-Resolution in Real-World Scenarios: A Dataset and Benchmark](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.06393/) (2025)
- [LPLC: A Dataset for License Plate Legibility Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.18425/) (2025)
- [Toward Unified Fine-Grained Vehicle Classification and Automatic License Plate Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.05271/) (2026)
- [LPLCv2: An Expanded Dataset for Fine-Grained License Plate Legibility Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.08741/) (2026)
- [ICPR 2026 Competition on Low-Resolution License Plate Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.22506/) (2026)
- [DACov: A Deeper Analysis of Data Augmentation on the Computed Tomography Segmentation Problem](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.05912/) (2023)
- [Image-based Automatic Dial Meter Reading in Unconstrained Scenarios](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.02850/) (2022)
- [Light In The Black: An Evaluation of Data Augmentation Techniques for COVID-19 CT's Semantic Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.09722/) (2022)
- [License Plate Images Generation with Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.03374/) (2025)
- [Multi-Feature Aggregation in Diffusion Models for Enhanced Face Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.15386/) (2024)
- [Embedding Similarity Guided License Plate Super Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.01483/) (2025)
- [BLPR: Robust License Plate Recognition under Viewpoint and Illumination Variations via Confidence-Driven VLM Fallback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.09927/) (2026)
- [Mapping License Plate Recoverability Under Extreme Viewing Angles for Opportunistic Urban Sensing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.23814/) (2026)
- [A Benchmark for Vehicle Attribute Classification in Cross-Domain Surveillance Scenarios](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.01584/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) systems have shown remarkable performance on license plates (LPs) from multiple regions due to advances in deep learning and the increasing availability of datasets. The evaluation of deep ALPR systems is usually done within each dataset; therefore, it is questionable if such results are a reliable indicator of generalization ability. In this paper, we propose a traditional-split versus leave-one-dataset-out experimental setup to empirically assess the cross-dataset generalization of 12 Optical Character Recognition (OCR) models applied to LP recognition on nine publicly available datasets with a great variety in several aspects (e.g., acquisition settings, image resolution, and LP layouts). We also introduce a public dataset for end-to-end ALPR that is the first to contain images of vehicles with Mercosur LPs and the one with the highest number of motorcycle images. The experimental results shed light on the limitations of the traditional-split protocol for evaluating approaches in the ALPR context, as there are significant drops in performance for most datasets when training and testing the models in a leave-one-dataset-out fashion.