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German company promises speedy tolls anywhere
Page 14
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The firm behind the German road tolling system has demonstrated
how quickly it can set up a new tolled route. Dylan Gray reports.
SATELLIC TRAFFIC Management (STM),part of telecoms giant T-Systems, has shown how quickly a road charging system can be implemented using its technology.
During the I ntelligentTransport Solutions conference in London last week,CM was taken on a 6.41un journey that STM had designated as a tolled route. We were provided with detailed printouts from the test, downloaded from the vehicle's On-Board Unit (OBU).
STM uses the same technology as the German motorway tolling system for trucks, the I .KW Main, run by Toll Collect. This has been operating since January 2005.
STM says the technology is easily transferable to new locations Dr Uwe Leinberger, STM's senior solution architect, says:"The system is very versatile. Software updates make it easy to integrate new routes into the network anywhere in the world. With its integrated, dedicated short-range communi cation module it is also capable of integration with microwave-based systems like the Austrian GO-Box, for example." The system uses GPS (Global Positioning System) and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) to track vehicles and relay charging information back to a computer centre. Vehicles are tracked via their OBUs that store data such as registration, number of axles and emissions class OBUs recognise when a vehicle is on a chargeable road and notify
the driver via an audible alarm. STM has been involved in a pilot project with French tolling firm Cofiroute to evaluate cross-border toll collection near Strasbourg. This stretch of parallel German and French motorways was chosen because German trucks
have been using the French side to avoid Maut payments.
The UK government is committed to nationwide road charging, but not before by 2015. However a number of local authorities are looking at pilot schemes.