Lot Vulture is on-premise software that turns an ordinary security camera into a per-space parking sensor. Point an existing IP camera at a lot, trace a box around each space in the browser dashboard, and it runs computer vision on the site to mark every spot occupied or free in real time. It targets parking operators who want live occupancy without the hardware bill: a magnetic sensor runs $200 to $500 per space, and a 200-space lot can cost $40,000 to instrument.
Rather than cropping each space and classifying it separately, the engine makes a single pass over the whole frame and reads features inside the zones you drew, so processing time stays flat whether a camera watches five spaces or 150. That avoids a common failure, where a tall SUV’s detection box bleeds into the empty spot beside it. A two-threshold rule holds each state steady through headlight glare and shifting shadows. Everything runs on local hardware, so the video never leaves the property.
The free Community edition runs on CPU with a model the maker rates around 89% accurate; the paid tier adds a GPU and a 98% model for $25 a month per camera. The code is source-available, not open source: you may run and modify it, but not sell a competing product. The project is only weeks old, so the numbers are the developer’s own. Cameras elsewhere are taking on judgement calls too, like Vinci2, which decides when a wearable assistant should speak up.
Read More: RuView: Sensing People With WiFi, Not Cameras
Sources:
- Lot Vulture (GitHub)
- Lot Vulture: Intelligent Parking Lot Management & Occupancy AI (official site)
- Show Dev: I built an on-prem AI parking spot monitor to replace $400 in-ground sensors (DEV Community)
- Lot Vulture - Turn existing RTSP cameras into live parking occupancy maps (Hacker News)
- Dedicated parking space & driveway occupancy from RTSP feeds (Frigate discussion #24207)
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Citation
@misc{kabui2026,
author = {{Kabui, Charles}},
title = {Lot {Vulture} {Turns} {Existing} {Security} {Cameras} {Into}
a {Live} {Parking} {Map}},
date = {2026-10-13},
url = {https://toknow.ai/posts/lot-vulture-parking-occupancy-existing-cameras/},
langid = {en-GB}
}