New Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Thursday organised a workshop on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based tolling, which will help the government strategise and design the roadmap for free-flow tolling system in the country.
According to an official statement, in the proposed GNSS technology-based tolling system, national highways will be geo-fenced and consist of virtual tolling points.
“The objective of the workshop was to seek input and suggestions from various industry experts and stakeholders on different aspects of the GNSS-based tolling system.
“The workshop will help strategise and design the future roadmap for free-flow tolling system in India based on GNSS technology,” it said.
Various stakeholders, including relevant government departments, ISRO, NIC, and industry players such as vehicle manufacturers, AIS-140 On-Board Unit (OBU) manufacturers, Global GNSS service providers, banks, payment aggregators/ gateway service providers, were invited for deliberations.
According to the statement, whenever a vehicle fitted with GNSS On-Board Unit (OBU) shall pass through the virtual tolling point, information on distance travelled will be calculated based on satellite signals from multi-constellation such as GPS etc. and applicable fee shall be computed by the central GNSS software system and the amount will be deducted from the user’s bank account.
Speaking on the occasion, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) secretary Giridhar Aramane said the stakeholder consultation is important to discuss various issues involved in GNSS-based tolling deployment and seeking suggestions.
“We have to ensure that the process of toll collection is seamless. To achieve this objective, we need to have a technology framework that will enable us to operate in an efficient way, is economical and acceptable to various stakeholders,” he said.
NHAI chairperson Alka Upadhyaya said the workshop would provide the likely way forward on deployment of GNSS-based tolling in India.
“This session will help us to get inputs from the experts who have come from other parts of the world and will help us to address various challenges that we may face in planning and roll-out of GNSS-based tolling across the country,” she said.
According to the statement, sessions and presentations were held with consultants and industry experts on global best practices for GNSS-based tolling.
Discussions were also held on the findings of the pilot carried out by NHAI on Delhi-Mumbai corridor and various aspects of GNSS architecture, payment settlement process, proposed enforcement measures and legal framework requirements.