Can an Electronic License Plate Replace ETC?

An electronic license plate is essentially an RFID electronic tag. The cost of such an electronic tag is indeed lower than that of ETC, but it is not a new technology. This tag has been used in the logistics industry for many years, but compared to active ETC, electronic license plates need to build more signal receiving infrastructure. This facility has construction costs. Who will bear it? The more critical question is whether installing RFID tags on vehicles can completely replace ETC. The answer is probably no.

For intelligent transportation, to complete the charging, it is not only the vehicle identification, but also the problem of path identification. On these two basis, the problem of payment and clearing is solved. Let us first talk about the problem of vehicle identification. Many people think that license plate recognition can replace ETC. This leads many people to think that the so-called license plate payment can replace ETC, and then infer that the electronic license plate can replace ETC. Some time ago, even the media claimed that WeChat and Alipay had to kill ETC. The ignorant title party of this ignorant would not understand the logic behind ETC fees. It would not understand ETCs tie-up and second-time tie-in/person business.

如果高速公路收费是一样的停车费用, it is completely feasible to replace the ETC with the electronic label. However, the problem is that the ETC is not only used to identify the vehicle. The route from point A to point B is different. The charges are different. Only the vehicle is identified. It doesn't make sense to not recognize the path. Therefore, the electronic license plate has to play a role, and it is also necessary to solve the problem of path identification. Of course, installing the RFID identification facility on the road side can also solve this problem, and the key is the problem of high cost. As for WeChat and Alipay-driven license plates, it is just another contactless payment scenario that does not replace ETC because they cannot solve the path identification problem. In fact, the next ETC payment card will also be canceled, which means that ETC can use any payment method, but which payment can not replace ETC itself.

In fact, developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and Europe also have highway tolls, and they all use ETC technology. The United States and Europe adopt ETC technology earlier, but the technical standards are relatively low, but even the US ETC can still be perceived at high speed. When China was engaged in the ETC system, it studied the global highway toll standards and technologies. From the perspective of controlling costs, China's ETC hardware technology standards are higher than those in Europe and lower than Japan, which means that since the United States Europe can not stop. With the payment, China's ETC can completely solve the problem of high-speed non-stop charging.