Austrian IT company Kapsch TrafficCom and its partner Aventi Intelligent Communication have conducted a pilot project in Norway where they tested what they’re calling the tolling technology of the future.

The target of the project was to find out how fee collection for passenger cars is possible based on the vehicle type, its emissions class and the distance driven.

They say the background to this is the rapid decline in vehicle-related tax revenues, particularly due to the high proportion of electric vehicles in Norway – a problem that more and more countries will face in the coming years.

The project serves as input to “concept selection study” that was conducted by Norwegian authorities regarding the principles of determining and collecting future road user charges and tolls.

“In total, more than two million kilometres of trips, or about 50 laps around the earth, were analysed,” explained Alfredo Escriba, Chief Technical Officer at Kapsch TrafficCom. “The system was able to handle the challenging environments of the Norwegian road network, matching routes and calculating rates with an accuracy level above 99%.”

Kapsch says that on one hand road user charging can compensate for the loss of tax revenue by governments, and on the other it offers a fair and transparent charging system for road users. While this type of charging is already established for lorries, the tested system could for the first time offer a practicable and user-friendly instrument for passenger cars as well.

National Infrastructure Commission Chair Sir John Armitt spoke on last week’s Highways Voices podcast about the need for distance-based charging in the UK to fill a hole in fuel duty revenue, something former Transport Minister Steve Norris spoke about several years ago.

(Picture – Yay Images)