Polish e-Toll will be activated in 2022 for commercial vehicles
EMTEC has become an accredited supplier for the soon to be compulsory Polish E-TOLL system. In order to achieve accreditation EMTEC participated in a 2,400 km (1488 mile) cross-country Polish road trip to prove that our fleet tracking solution is robust and up to the task of tracking commercial vehicles with great accuracy. On top of this the system can show how drivers perform on the road.
In 2022 the Polish government will introduce a new and innovative E-TOLL system that collects real time satellite positioning data from vehicles driving on roads throughout Poland. The new E-TOLL system is set to replace the existing, toll booth based viaTOLL system and will handle electronic toll collection on motorways, expressways, and national roads, with no ground-based infrastructure being required. E-TOLL enables drivers and fleets to pay for road mileage based on passing through “virtual tool booths”. The Polish E-TOLL is currently compulsory only for commercial vehicles, but we know other governments will be watching closely.
EMTEC is well positioned to become accredited as an E-TOLL supplier as we have both a hardware portfolio, in partnership with Teltonika, and a fully featured platform to provide the digital pathway for the collected data into the Polish Government’s toll charging service. In order to get that accreditation EMTEC went through an exhaustive test phase to prove that our online telematics solution works to the standard required by the Polish Government. In preparation, two of the founding Directors of EMTEC, brothers Martin and David Wedge, donned their caps, put on their driving gloves and set off on a two-and-a-bit day rally in the Polish countryside. Martin and David are experienced hands; back in the 1980’s they competed in many UK road rallies with their competition prepared Ford Escort MK1 (see picture).
Martin says, “This type of driving requires solid teamwork. Back in the Eighties David and I had this well practiced, so we put our Rally skills to the test once again with David on the maps and myself doing the driving. It was pretty challenging as, even though we had the route on a map, Poland has complex junctions and merges, and quite demanding road signage, especially off the main highways. Precise navigation was required to avoid mistakes. There were also a few tricky sections where, for example, we had to take a service road running parallel to the main road. All this was designed to test the reliability and accuracy of our GPS tracker. The severity of the tests surprised us! For example, one test consisted of disconnecting the device, removing the SIM, booting it up again and then continuing the journey. There were several such sections and tests and we passed them all successfully”.
Martin: “We were careful not to go over speed limits because we knew we were being monitored. One of the sections was over gravel roads with blind bends coming one after the other, bringing back memories from the 1980s’ road rally days!”
“We needed more than two days of solid driving to complete the course and we were under pressure to drive the 1200 km route twice. In fact, we were flat-out driving for 2 days with stops only for food and sleep, and we caught the flight home with just 10 minutes to spare!”
“Back home in the office the test drive results were reviewed. In addition to tracking GPS information the EMTEC software also highlights driver behaviour. It can report when a driver is speeding, braking hard and/or cornering hard with a points system derived from the on-board accelerometer. If a driver is showing extreme behaviour it may be time for the fleet owner to step in. From the Polish data we discovered that our team had worked on their rally skills on that dirt road!”
Martin: “We were impressed with Poland. People everywhere were very friendly and, surprisingly, many of them spoke English. Warsaw city centre was beautiful and clean and we can tell the Polish government is pushing for green and liveable city centres. We plan to go back and experience the country more at leisure”.
“Poland with its complex truck based logistics and relatively new dual carriageway road system is a prime target for our technology. We can enable not only their road tolling service but also a CO2 accounting system for the end users.
We are all aware that Government CO2 figures for vehicles are based on the somewhat optimistic numbers supplied by each vehicle manufacturer. Where our system scores is that we calculate, using our uniquely verified by The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) algorithm, the real time CO2 emissions of each individual vehicle, taking into account not just distance travelled (as the Government system does) but vehicle use patterns and driver behaviour, both major factors in the CO2 emitted”.
About
The EMTEC solution consists of a small black box, smaller than a cigarette packet, that connects to the car battery. Unlike mobile phone solutions, the device becomes an integral part of the car and can be hidden as an anti-theft device. The EMTEC dashboard gives exact information on car location and use. If you buy the slightly more expensive device, it can even provide real time engine performance information through the online dashboard. This information is also used to accurately calculate fleet emissions, certified by the UK National Physical Laboratory (NPL), that are then used for accounting purposes (see also Devon Wildlife Trust BLOG).
Martin Wedge is the CEO of EMTEC, a company that specialises in advanced telematics for performance monitoring. Martin has a track record in leasing fleets and fleet management, including being the CEO of Nissan finance/contract hire.
David Wedge is Technical Director of EMTEC and also an experienced Race Engineer. David has hands-on experience building and tuning race cars, and in programming engine management systems.