The price is right

Q-Free’s Per Fredrik Ecker explores the past, present and future of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) road pricing.

Per Fredrik Ecker is Vice President Sales & Marketing for Q-Free ASA in Norway, one of the leading Road User Charging Infrastructure suppliers. He has broad international experience from several management positions in Siemens Mobile, Siemens Shanghai Mobile Communication Ltd. China (SSMC) and Siemens Wireless Access West Europe, Siemens AG.


The implementation of GNSS-based Road user charging (RUC) is now approaching a reality in Europe. Leading the way is Slovakia’s decision to go for a GNSS-based solution for the nationwide truck tolling project. GNSS is often referred to as either a satellite navigation system or as GPS (from the American abbreviation of Global Positioning System) but all systems based on GPS are classified as GNSS.

Road user charging (RUC) systems based on GNSS require an On Board Unit (OBU) positioned in the vehicle. The OBU uses satellite signals to pinpoint its current position and to calculate the toll fee. The data is then transmitted via mobile radio signals (usually GSM) from the OBU to the back office system where an invoice is generated and sent to the user.

In January 2009, Q-Free, together with Siemens, won the contract to deliver the new Truck Tolling project for Slovakia SkyToll. Q-Free supplies the central system and enforcement system and a three-year service agreement for a GPS-based truck tolling system in the Slovak Republic. Siemens supplies the first 80,000 OBUs. The construction phase will continue throughout 2009.

Following the growth of the truck tolling market, we will then move on to offer industrialised solutions for GNSS-based road user charging; We already offers ready system solutions, with GNSS OBUs, communication infrastructure, enforcement solutions and operational back office solutions.

The clear thing that is now differentiating Q-Free from other players is that we have a world leading DRSC solution complimented by a proven GNSS charging solution. From past supplier experiences, people think that a GNSS OBU is a huge and expensive piece of equipment, but that is not strictly true: The Q-Free GNSS OBU, for instance, is small, elegant and non-intrusive and is not much bigger than an existing DRSC tag. Think of it as a DSRC OBU with a power wire. The OBU still fits on the windscreen just like a DSRC tag.

It is the OBU that is the key. A GNSS OBU would have cost €500 a few years ago. Today it’s significantly lower, less in volume, making the GNSS road pricing market more competitive when you consider the savings in road-side infrastructure and speed of scheme deployment.

GNSS road pricing is a hot topic in Europe at the moment as several new projects are about to be announced. GNSS-based technology is mostly being used for heavy goods vehicles. The German HGV system and the Slovakia SkyToll system lead the way.

GNSS truck tolling schemes have been already been implemented and proven beyond doubt in Germany. With Slovakia’s decision to implement GNSS truck tolling, together with the firm plans in France, the Netherlands and possibly Slovenia, it is obvious that GNSS truck tolling market will constitute a considerable share of the market for road user charging in Europe in the near future.

DSRC, ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) and GNSS-based RUC solutions or a combination of these is the future. No matter which technology is chosen, this high potential market is rapidly growing. We will also see other applications develop in the future like vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication that will co-exist with the more traditional RUC applications. The outlook is simply that the GNSS segment of the RUC industry will continue to grow. Major procurements are happening and more and more countries are initiating GNSS-based solutions for road charging, especially countries which don’t have a charging scheme and are now looking at satellite based solutions.

Tolling projects usually span many years, and at Q-Free we want to make sure that we have the right solutions. Governments and concessionaires have to make huge decisions of what is going to be the technology of the future.