Johannes Turinsky, Björn Schlüter
The German toll collection system suffered from many glitches and it is still not working today [2004]. Therefore we decided to design a novel solution.
Our system is based on transponder technology and it consists of a reading device and a passive transponder chip, which are coupled inductively. We store the registration plate of the truck on the chip. As towing vehicles and trailers have to be registered separately, it is possible to charge them individually. Based on the registration plate, any other relevant data for toll collection can be determined, e.g. the number of axles and the vehicle weight. Reading devices, which read the transponder data and send it to the toll collection control centre, need to be placed at all slip roads. As all motorways are mapped and as every reading device can send its location in addition to the data read from the truck, this system allows the automatic collection of a fee based on the distance between the beginning and end of the motorway journey.
