Smart Industry 1/2018

Smart Business Toll Systems
only use their cars twice a day: once
to get to work in the morning and
again in the evenings to drive home.
Things are going from
bad to worse in a hurry
London is a good indicator of what
lies in store for other urban areas. The
number of private-hire vehicles that
entered the CCZ at least once rose
from 50,000 in March 2013 to 85,000
in November 2016. The number of
licensed drivers rose from 67,000 to
115,500 over the same period.
It can only get worse. Self-driving
cars are set to join the stream of
vehicles moving in, out, and around
the most congested areas in the
next couple of years. Most scenarios
forecast a noticeable decline in direct
car ownership as a result, with people
preferring to call up a driverless car
from Uber or others, which means
that the number of car owners to tax
will probably decrease as well. Even
today, private-hire vehicles make up
38% of car traffic in Central London,
almost double the share of traditional
black taxicabs.
Economists point out that electric
vehicles of the future will lower all
governments’ tax revenues further.
Owners pay no fuel taxes and, at least
today, are often granted generous
government subsidies. On the other
hand, the call is out for authorities to
help finance the basic infrastructure
for e-mobiles, such as on-street
charging stations.
A growing number of experts are calling
for a way to pay the costs of car use
that would be fairer than taxing fuel
and ownership. Instead, they argue,
governments should institute general
road-usage taxes for all: a per-kilometer
charge that would vary depending on
the vehicle’s weight and how much
pollution it emits. Owners of big, gasguzzling
SUVs, for instance, would pay
proportionately more than someone
with a lowly Fiat Panda. Charges could
also be adjusted so vehicle owners in
densely populated areas pay more
than suburb dwellers.
Technology will play a central role in
the introduction of road pricing. As
in any area of technology, prices will
Stop&Go in Singapore
Singapore has the
world’s most comprehensive
road-pricing system
which is camera-based. It
plans to introduce a new
GPS-based one in 2020
Thousands of
self-driving
cars are set to
join the stream
of vehicles
moving in, out
and around the
most congested
areas in a few
years
fall as systems mature and become
more commonplace.
Smartphones are ubiquitous today
even in countries like Bangladesh or
Brazil, where traffic congestion already
reaches nightmarish levels and
can only get worse. As automobiles
and trucks increasingly connect to the
Internet, it will become increasingly
easy to track them, especially in conjunction
with GPS satnav systems.
Singapore is showing the rest of the
world the way here. It introduced
paper permits to control access to
its central zone way back in 1975. In
2008, the city-state went electronic.
Every three months, the toll fees
are adjusted to account for average
speeds, so if traffic slows down, tolls
go up automatically.
Pay-as-you-go, only now
in real time
In 2020, Singapore plans to roll out
a completely new system that relies
on GPS signals. It will adjust the
amount drivers pay depending on
distance, time, location, and vehicle.
It is hoped that this will reduce the
need for camera-bearing gantries
that spot vehicles driving in and out
of the downtown area. It will invoice
drivers in real time, sending notifications
about the amount deducted
from their bank account or credit
card as well as traffic information and
tips on how gridlocked areas of the
city can be avoided.
In the United States, there are at least
two major road-pricing schemes being
implemented currently. By far the
most ambitious is Orego in Oregon,
which kicked off in 2015 and now
has around 1,500 subscribers. Drivers
have devices fitted in their cars
that take data from their engines’
computers. The gadgets record the
distance driven and the amount
of fuel used, and transmit the data
via mobile networks. Motorists are
charged based on how far they drive,
with each mile costing 1.5 cents. This
amount is then deducted from the
state fuel tax each driver has paid
and refunds are credited directly.
As governments increasingly start to
track vehicles, and the citizens inside
them, concerns about data privacy
are growing in leaps and bounds.
Tech firms and carmakers are also
competing to gain access to the
mountains of data the drivers create.
This can be used to upsell additional
services based on the location of
the vehicle, its condition (by using
sensors to suggest when it’s time to
head for the next garage), or how it's
driven. The latter will play a key role
in creating the algorithms that will
steer driverless cars in the future.
In the US, the American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU) has voiced concerns in
the past about the Oregon project,
and others. They worry about data
being leaked or stolen. In Europe,
EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger
pointed out in an interview with
Smart Industry (see SI 01/16) that in
Europe, as well as in the States, it is far
from clear to whom data generated
by smart cars actually belongs – the
car’s owner or its manufacturer?
Clearing this up is conceivable. The
Economist explains: “Once motorists
have become used to the idea of
paying for the road space they take
up, rates could be tweaked to account
for the noise, pollution and the risk of
collisions in each location.”
Time will tell.
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