Electronic vehicle identification for road traffic information and enforcement

Electronic Vehicle Identification (EVI) is a future means of uniquely identifying and communicating electronically with road vehicles. The use of EVI has the potential to greatly improve the identification of vehicles over current methods and uses a wireless communication link to read data held in an electronic format within a vehicle. The next decade will undoubtedly see an increase in the application of electronic systems to the road network in order to improve network efficiency and road safety. The application of EVI could for example, provide journey time data to traffic control systems, or a means for enforcing traffic regulations. EVI also provides the opportunity for introducing a wide range of commercial and driver related services that benefit Users. This paper describes the work undertaken for the DTLR as the first steps in addressing the EVI concept and public policy needs. The paper identifies some of the problems with optical vehicle identification techniques currently in use, describes EVI with potential applications and also discusses some of the organisational and societal issues that will need to be addressed.