Universal tracking system hits bollard
Report highlights obstacles to plan for pan-European system
The European Commission faces what could be insurmountable difficulties in its plans to achieve a single cross-border system of electronic toll collection (ETC) and road charging by the end of the decade, according to a new report by SBD Ltd. The UK has of course recently opened its first toll motorway, the M6 Toll Road (right).
The EC’s target is for all vehicles to be equipped with an ETC box, linked to a standard contract for the owner/operator. At the end of each billing period, a single invoice would be issued, covering journeys through any of the member states.
But SBD, which calls itself one of Europe’s leading independent technical consultants in the field of telematics, has identified and analysed a series of issues that show these ambitions to be unrealistic in the short and medium term.
Its report, An Introduction to Electronic Toll Collection and its Implication for Telematics, looks at the current status of ETC systems across Europe, both in operation and under development. It also scrutinises the implications for telematics services such as traffic information and e-call automatic emergency alerts.
The study demonstrates that Europe already has a poor record on the interoperability of ETC services between different countries. Each nation has hitherto developed its own system for toll collection, with at present only one example of cross-border co-operation. A future single contract and invoice system would have to take into account the split between public and private toll operators and the national differences in areas such as tariffs, sales tax and legislation.
As well as the contractual problems, the technical aspect of standardisation also presents major difficulties. At present, four principal technologies are in use or under development:
- Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR, used for enforcing the London congestion charge)
- Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC, the most widespread system, used for automatic payment on toll motorways, bridges and tunnels)
- Tachograph
- Satellite tracking/positioning (GSM/GPS, adopted in Germany for truck tolls and under consideration in the UK and the Netherlands for road charging)
It has taken 10 years for the ETC industry to reach agreement on a European standard for DSRC, but even now this standard is incompatible with the system currently used by around four million Italian drivers. The issue of DSRSC interoperability with other technologies, such as GSM/GPS is also only at the research stage.
A GSM/GPS system for road charging has been made a long-term government target in the UK, with implementation from around 2015. SBD identifies this technology as being the only ETC system that can also potentially support telematics services, including the e-call provision that the EC would like to see introduced for all new cars from around 2010.
David Bell, SBD managing director, said: "The European ETC industry has a poor reputation for interoperability, even for a single technology such as DSRC. This, together with the challenges of integrating new technologies and overcoming cross-border contractual issues, suggests that the European Commission’s target of single, standard system will be very difficult to achieve."
So the good news is that the ability to track you anywhere will take time to come about. The bad news is that the authorities still want to make it so.
Germany last year stopped it's introduction of lorry charging because it did not work. One of the biggest german IT companies (part of the Daimler-Chrysler empire)were 3 years over due and had to pay(reimburse) the German goverment......dispite the fact that all the equipment is inplace: gentries, computers, blackboxes etc.
Does any one know the true recognition rate in central London?
JamieT said:
I dont have many objections if the government wanted to track people for the purpose of charging for road use.....
Oi....Stop that..!
We already pay for road use....too much, in fact.
And what about the control this would bestow on a European government that would be left wing the way things are going.
Remember how communist countries controlled their people by restricting movement?
Wouldn't that be easy, just by billing each mile at £1000......?
JamieT said:
I dont have many objections if the government wanted to track people for the purpose of charging for road use, afterall, payment by usage seems the fairest way of charging (although I suppose fuel tax already accomplishes this in an indirect way). What I dont like is the fact theat the technology could easily be used to work out my average speed.
In due course some system of charging for road use might make sense, though only as a replacement for the current high level of tax on fuel, but I want nothing to do with any system that monitors the manner of my progress, either in terms of average or maximum speeds.
Best wishes all,
Dave.
andytk said:
This is a good question.
Also what happens if the ANPR reads a numberplate that is false (ie. its just some random letters/numbers on a plate).
How do they get you??
Just wondering.
Andy
They don't. Which is why false registrations and plate theft are massively on the increase.
Using cameras of any type to enforce any road laws plays into the hands of the dishonest.
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