Are these cameras mounted on the trunk and hood or something else?

[thomas-dash]

I saw this car driving yesterday and I'm trying to figure out if these are cameras or something else:

 

[Nigel]

I'm sure they are cameras, question is what kind?

Maybe laser scanners, checking the road surface for holes and unevenness.
Note that they are pointing at one lane each, and pointing at the road surface rather than into the distance.

 

[thomas-dash]

It looks like they're most likely license plate readers abbreviated LPR/ALPR. I read a few articles about them and saw some images in the articles that look very similar to the ones that were mounted on the car.

 

[Vortex Radar]

Yep those are ALPR systems.

 

[thomas-dash]

This was an interesting read:

Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs)

Automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are high-speed, computer-controlled camera systems that are typically mounted on street poles, streetlights, highway overpasses, mobile trailers, or attached to police squad cars. ALPRs automatically capture all license plate numbers that come into view,...

www.eff.org

Vigilant Solutions' subsidiary Digital Recognition Network, along with MVTrac, are the two main companies hiring contractors to collect ALPR data across the country. The companies then share the commercially-collected data not just with law enforcement but also with auto recovery (aka "repo") companies, banks, credit reporting agencies, and insurance companies. Data collected by private entities does not have retention limits and is not subject to sunshine laws, or any of the other safeguards that are sometimes found in the government sector.

I wonder if this is one of their contractors driving around collecting data.