diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index a6034ccfd..28175d9b3 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import os
 import platform
 import subprocess
 import sysconfig
-import numpy as np
 import catch2
 
 arch = subprocess.check_output(["uname", "-m"], encoding='utf8').rstrip()
@@ -71,7 +70,6 @@ env = Environment(
 Export('env', 'arch', 'common')
 
 envCython = env.Clone(LIBS=[])
-envCython["CPPPATH"] += [np.get_include()]
 envCython["CCFLAGS"] += ["-Wno-#warnings", "-Wno-cpp", "-Wno-shadow", "-Wno-deprecated-declarations"]
 envCython["CCFLAGS"].remove('-Werror')
 if arch == "Darwin":
diff --git a/msgq/visionipc/tests/test_visionipc.py b/msgq/visionipc/tests/test_visionipc.py
index f8036ecb1..39554779c 100644
--- a/msgq/visionipc/tests/test_visionipc.py
+++ b/msgq/visionipc/tests/test_visionipc.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
+import struct
 import unittest
 from typing import Optional
-import numpy as np
 from msgq.visionipc import VisionIpcServer, VisionIpcClient, VisionStreamType
 
 
@@ -55,13 +55,17 @@ def test_send_single_buffer(self):
     assert self.server is not None
     assert self.client is not None
     assert self.client.buffer_len is not None
-    buf = np.zeros(self.client.buffer_len, dtype=np.uint8)
-    buf.view('<u8')[0] = 1234
+    buf = bytearray(self.client.buffer_len)
+    struct.pack_into("<Q", buf, 0, 1234)
     self.server.send(VisionStreamType.VISION_STREAM_ROAD, buf, frame_id=1337)
 
     recv_buf = self.client.recv()
     assert recv_buf is not None
-    assert recv_buf.data.view('<u8')[0] == 1234
+    data = recv_buf.data
+    assert isinstance(data, memoryview)
+    assert struct.unpack_from("<Q", data, 0)[0] == 1234
+    assert len(data) == self.client.buffer_len
+    assert data[8:].nbytes == self.client.buffer_len - 8
     assert self.client.frame_id == 1337
     assert recv_buf.frame_id == 1337
 
@@ -70,7 +74,7 @@ def test_no_conflate(self):
     assert self.server is not None
     assert self.client is not None
     assert self.client.buffer_len is not None
-    buf = np.zeros(self.client.buffer_len, dtype=np.uint8)
+    buf = bytearray(self.client.buffer_len)
     self.server.send(VisionStreamType.VISION_STREAM_ROAD, buf, frame_id=1)
     self.server.send(VisionStreamType.VISION_STREAM_ROAD, buf, frame_id=2)
 
@@ -87,7 +91,7 @@ def test_conflate(self):
     assert self.server is not None
     assert self.client is not None
     assert self.client.buffer_len is not None
-    buf = np.zeros(self.client.buffer_len, dtype=np.uint8)
+    buf = bytearray(self.client.buffer_len)
     self.server.send(VisionStreamType.VISION_STREAM_ROAD, buf, frame_id=1)
     self.server.send(VisionStreamType.VISION_STREAM_ROAD, buf, frame_id=2)
 
diff --git a/msgq/visionipc/visionipc_pyx.pyx b/msgq/visionipc/visionipc_pyx.pyx
index fff9c3881..e95c1cf02 100644
--- a/msgq/visionipc/visionipc_pyx.pyx
+++ b/msgq/visionipc/visionipc_pyx.pyx
@@ -2,9 +2,6 @@
 # cython: c_string_encoding=ascii, language_level=3
 
 import sys
-import numpy as np
-cimport numpy as cnp
-from cython.view cimport array
 from libc.string cimport memcpy
 from libc.stdint cimport uint32_t, uint64_t
 from libcpp cimport bool
@@ -37,7 +34,8 @@ cdef class VisionBuf:
 
   @property
   def data(self):
-    return np.asarray(<cnp.uint8_t[:self.buf.len]> self.buf.addr)
+    cdef unsigned char[:] data = <unsigned char[:self.buf.len]> self.buf.addr
+    return memoryview(data)
 
   @property
   def width(self):
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e23a8dbea..d218759ed 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ dependencies = [
   "ruff",
   "parameterized",
   "coverage",
-  "numpy",
   "cppcheck",
   "cpplint",
   "codespell",