Cell-based privacy-friendly roadpricing

This paper proposes a new approach to electronic roadpricing, based on a division of the roadpricing area into cells, each with their own fee. Some of the cells are secretly marked as check cells. On-board equipment in each vehicle contains a secure element that is made aware of these check cells and helps the pricing authorities to monitor the vehicle’s whereabouts in a privacy-friendly manner. This approach is not only original but it also improves upon earlier approaches since it solves issues regarding positioning accuracy, collusion between different users, and the required level of interaction. Moreover, with slight modification this cell-based roadpricing can also be used for automatic handling of parking charges. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.