Highway operator PLUS Malaysia plans to expand the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to toll payment functions for heavy vehicles such as lorries and buses, the New Straits Times reported.
“We will continue to gather data and make further refinements and explore potential integration with new emerging technologies from 2023 and beyond, with a keen eye on delivering convenience to our highway customers,” PLUS told the New Straits Times in an e-mail interview.
According to the highway operator, 2022 will continue to be a year of data collection through artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning, systems enhancement and fine tuning in order to make journeys on highways even smoother.
The RFID public pilot programme began in September 2018, supporting usage by Class 1 passenger vehicles including SUVs, vans and pick-up trucks. The RFID method of toll payment was initially rolled out on open-toll highways, where fixed toll rates are charged based on the vehicle class.
Later on, RFID toll collection was implemented on closed-toll highways, with PLUS commencing use of the system on the North-South Expressway from January 15 this year.
PLUS told the New Straits Times that the introduction of the RFID technology was in line with the government’s intention to move to a multi-lane free flow (MLFF) toll collection system, and with this in mind, the RFID technology is still in its public pilot phase and is aimed at resolving issues such as enforcement, payments options and convenience to customers.
“The transition to MLFF is still a work in progress as PLUS is committed to working with the government towards achieving this goal,” the highway operator said.
On the subject of the RFID tags’ affordability, the retail price of the tags are not decided or levied by the company in any way, PLUS Malaysia said. At present, the RFID self-fitment kit retails for RM35 apiece.
“It is at the sole discretion of Touch ‘n Go, who is the owner of gateway payment products including the Touch ‘n Go card and SmartTAG device. The remit for PLUS is the installation, system integration and operation of the gantry-mounted readers at toll plazas, while maintaining the ISO IEC180000-6C standard,” the highway operator said.
“As we receive more traffic through the RFID lanes, we collect more data. This additional data allows us to continuously tweak and refine the systems as required in order to give our customers a smoother journey experience,” it continued.
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Masyuuk.. RM35 for tag, another RM10 for new T’n’G card.
SmartAG and physical card still idiot-proof for country like Malaysia. And they need to start saman “low credit” and “no card” on SmartAG and TnG lane
Go go go! Moving forward with new technology!
Why a piece of sticker is so much more expensive than a card with NFC technology???
bcoz RFID sticker has more built in security & tamper proof features unlike dinosaur TNG card
Wow.. u just swallow what ever they put into your mouth ya?
Wow, that tinfoil cap must be squeezing too much blood from your brain huh?
Perhaps resolve the existing issue first before exploring to expand the usages to heavy vehicles? So many Class 1 passenger vehicles getting stuck at tolls now and is causing massive jams especially during peak hours. If one gets stuck because of unreadable smart tag, there is still a backup plan whereby users can still leverage on their touch and go card to tap on the reader next to it. For RFID, there is no backup plan at all for road users when their RFID is unreadable. We have no choice but to reverse our cars and hope that the system can identify our RFID or even worst, reverse all the way out to another lane. Where is your BCP for situations like this? OMG
Moving forward for new technology is no doubt will beneficial to all users especially RFID, while the last generation of the SmartTag always creating problems ie failed to detect or battery drained up fast and bla bla bla.
Most of times i realize that the factor of “Baki Kurang” always contribute the highest percentage on jammed at toll lanes, E wallet has been introduced years ago, why cant people just tied their cards to e wallet for smoother journey, instead of “Baki Kurang” and force other users to reverse their cars? If genuine is a low battery case, users still can touch their card at the card reader provided at SmartTag lane. So who should we blame when stuck in lane? Education of the public or mentality of the individual user?
haha…
so.. when in the lime light on the pricing… said will check and may reduce… now? so many weeks past.. live goes on??