PLUS Malaysia has mentioned it can roll out the radio frequency identification (RFID) toll assortment system to all its highways, with at the least one RFID lane per toll plaza, by early 2022, The Star experiences.
According to Teras Teknologi CEO Anwar Ishak, the RFID system, which works with the Touch ‘n Go e-Wallet, might be carried out together with an automatic quantity plate recognition (ANPR) system. Teras Teknologi is a subsidiary of PLUS which develops know-how options for the freeway toll concessionaire, together with the Touch ‘n Go and SmartTag programs.
On PLUS highways which have a closed toll system, motorists are charged primarily based on the gap travelled between their check-in and exit factors. As such, the RFID system is required at each ends to file motorists going out and in. This is completely different from an open toll system that has toll charges primarily based on the car class.
Meanwhile, the ANPR system is supposed to present one other layer of identification, PLUS CTO Kang Yew Jin defined. Should there be any confusion on the place the motorist entered the freeway, it will give you the chance to determine how to cost them. This is to keep away from penalising motorists who might have unintentionally used a unique fee methodology to enter the freeway, in addition to help in disputes about fee errors.
Using high-resolution cameras, the ANPR system at toll plazas are ready to recognise an incoming car’s quantity plate and works with PLUS’ toll validation centre to course of funds. Kang famous the AI for the validation system was nonetheless being improved, and could be assisted by human employees for circumstances the place a quantity plate is illegible due to being broken, dirtied, or utilizing non-standardised, stylised quantity plates.
Both the RFID and ANPR programs, when working correctly, will permit motorists to cross by way of tolls at up to 30 km/h, which is quicker than the present SmartTAG system that has a 20 km/h pass-through pace. This mixture has already been implemented on the Hutan Kampung-Sungai Dua stretch, which started pilot testing since July 2020.
Anwar mentioned the outcomes of the pilot programme revealed not solely greater pass-through speeds, but in addition lowered congestion and fewer circumstances of motorists having inadequate steadiness to pay the toll. As the RFID system is linked to the TnG eWallet, motorists are ready to high up their e-wallet reasonably than having to discover a bodily top-up kiosk, as is the case with TnG playing cards.
During a media roundtable attended by The Star Anwar additionally revealed that the price of implementing the brand new know-how could be decrease than the SmartTAG system as soon as it was scaled up, because it used fewer proprietary programs.
He added that the timeline of the RFID-ANPR combo changing SmartTAG would rely on the speed of RFID adoption by motorists, although the federal government has already set a goal to introduce a multi-lane free flow (MLFF) system that’s RFID dependent by 2026.
The MLFF system is an digital toll assortment system like Japan’s ETC and Singapore’s Electronic Road Pricing (ERP). Gantries are arrange on highways (or city areas for congestion cost) and fitted with ANPR (automated number-plate recognition) and RFID (radio-frequency identification) {hardware} to gather toll electronically as a automotive passes by. This eliminates the necessity for toll cubicles, a serious supply of visitors jams.
