Road User Charging

Vehicles’ number plates are taken as the primary means of identifying, charging and enforcing vehicles in a road user charging scheme. PIPS Automatic number plate recognition systems process the video images taken by a camera at the roadside or on a gantry, locate the number plate in the image and convert this into the appropriate alphabetic/numeric characters, without any human intervention. The big advantage is that it removes the need for any in-vehicle equipment. Moreover, it solves the occasional user problem, whereby those who rarely use a particular charging scheme do not have the necessary in-vehicle equipment to pay the charges automatically.

There is no need for drivers to fit equipment in the vehicle to facilitate the charge. It all relies on the driver registering his vehicle number plate with the charging authority in advance of the trip and pay the appropriate charge. This method of enforcement has proved so successful that many local authorities are making this their choice for road user charging.

With PIPS market leading recognition and read rates, increasing numbers of customers see ANPR technology as the way forward as the primary means of payment replacing Tag/DSRC technology.