ROBIN-a MANNESMANN initiative for an innovative road pricing system

A future road pricing system is expected to operate without any interference with the traffic flow, i.e. stopping at toll booths is inacceptable. Hence an electronic toll collection system is sought which neither requires special speed limits not lane restrictions at the point where the toll is raised. One should be able to install it on virtually all major European highways within a limited timeframe. Additionally several European countries have strict laws concerning the security and integrity of personal data, excluding registration of road users at the point of toll collection in a way which would allow a tracking of individuals. Existing road pricing schemes mostly rely on a communication between an in-car unit and some kind of fixed roadside beacons where the communication initiates the billing process and also serves for control purposes. The beacons are usually connected to a central computer. The installation of all the quite elaborate roadside equipment puts a heavy financial load on the road operator. A consortium within the Mannesmann group has proposed the Project ROBIN. The system fulfills all the above conditions without requiring any fixed roadside infrastructure, thus drastically lowering the initial investment necessary to install such a system. Additionally it can be gradually implemented for specific user groups, it can be made compatible to already existing toll collection systems, it can be quickly and flexibly adapted to any road network and it provides a maximum of personal data security and integrity