AUTOMATIC DEBITING AND ELECTRONIC PAYMENT FOR TRANSPORT - THE ADEPT PROJECT. 1. OVERVIEW

Electronic means of toll-collection from vehicles travelling at speed, using small communications devices in the vehicle, have been demonstrated in the U.K. and elsewhere. However, the performance of such systems is currently less than ideal for large-scale implementation. This article is the first of a series of five consecutive articles which will present a new generation of road-user pricing technology, which incorporates 'intelligent' communications transponder and smartcard in the vehicle for automatic non-stop payment. This paper will provide an overview of the objectives and technology of the ADEPT project, which is the leading European research project in the field of road-use pricing and automatic debiting for road transport applications. ADEPT is currently planned for trial, or under trial in 5 cities: Goteborg, Cambridge; Thessaloniki, Lisbon, and Trondheim. A very brief overview of the objectives of each field-trial will also be presented here. The subsequent 4 articles will provide a more detailed description of the trials.