GNSS road pricing a step closer

GNSS road pricing a step closer. Today, road transport faces major challenges such as the ever-increasing need for safety, as well as for reduced congestion and pollution.
February 23, 2012 Read time: 2 mins

2462 IRF BPC bringing GNSS-based road pricing a step closer to maturity

Today, road transport faces major challenges such as the ever-increasing need for safety, as well as for reduced congestion and pollution. These problems are particularly critical in highly populated zones, notably big cities and their surrounding areas.

Different schemes are being proposed to improve the situation, including road pricing systems to automatically charge drivers for their use of road infrastructures.

The booming use of Personal Navigation Devices (PND) opens new and challenging opportunities for the implementation of innovative satellite-based applications beyond basic navigational functions. Apart from road pricing systems, these include other promising applications such as Pay-As-You-Drive (PAYD) schemes for the insurance sector and leasing companies and the like, as well as Value Added Services (VAS) such as local mobility information.

Nevertheless, there are still several obstacles to larger scale uptake of such extended services based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technologies. For example, the technical and economical feasibility of large scale road pricing based on GNSS only is not yet proven. Likewise, the practicalities of using the same on-board equipment for different applications have to be established.

Given the high potential of key applications, the GINA (GNSS for INnovative road Applications) project, co-funded by the 2465 European Commission and the European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA), was recently launched to address current obstacles with a view to bringing road pricing and road VAS a step closer to reality.

Over the next 24 months, the 12 project partners, coordinated by the Spanish company GMV, will conduct analysis to demonstrate that the adoption of the European GNSS (currently EGNOS, and Galileo from 2013) for road pricing and VAS is both technically and commercially feasible.

Following an in-depth analysis of real end user requirements, GINA will initiate the implementation of a nation-wide demonstration in the Netherlands. In the second stage of this project, 100 cars equipped with dedicated equipment will circulate on the Dutch road network for a period of six months. By the end of the project, new business opportunities should be clearly defined for the road sector.

The future looks very promising for the installation of GNSS applications in both urban areas and at national level. Hopefully, GINA will trigger wider interest in adopting the GNSS approach from EU cities and countries.
Highway & Network Management

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • GPS machine control boosts productivity
    February 23, 2012
    New technology can allow more productive and more cost-effective earthmoving jobs. Mike Woof reports
    Read More
  • Funding road research in Kenya as infrastructure development grows
    August 14, 2017
    The demand for road construction material research and testing services in Kenya is expected to soar. The East African country is going through a construction boom, despite policy and financial challenges facing public institutions overseeing the research and testing operations in the transport industry. “Kenya is going through a construction boom and so is the demand for construction material testing services,” said Juma Ali Madzitsa, Geotechnical Lab Supervisor at SGS Kenya, a subsidiary of Swiss based in
    Read More
  • IRF Washington announces key events programme
    November 4, 2013
    The Road Scholar Programme identifies promising international students currently enrolled in graduate programs at IRF Member Universities in the United States. The Road Scholar helps the IRF’s Educational Program (IREF) accomplish its mission to apply current transportation technology and management techniques to improve infrastructures around the world.
    Read More
  • Cleaner off-highway machines for Europe
    July 5, 2016
    Off-highway machines will become the cleanest in the world, according to a new regulation adopted by the European Parliament. The new Regulation tightens emission limits for particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) for mobile machines such construction and quarrying machinery as well as equipment used for municipal and road operation services. The regulation is the latest step in a series of limits, which have already reduced particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions for land-based machin
    Read More

Highlighted Content