>>>Al,
>>>
>>>I don't feel like spending $3 to read the article, care to give a synopsis of it?
>>
>>Ahh, sorry, I'm a subscriber, I thought it was a freely available article... I guess not.
>>
>>The German government entered into a PPP to develop a system to automatically charge road tolls to truckers, using satellite-positioning and mobile telephony technologies. The partnership coalition includes DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Telekom and CofiRoute of France.
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>>Problems that are mostly software-related have greatly delayed implementation of this system. They include such things as showing trucks as being on roadways when they are merely near them, and draining truck batteries when the truck is not running.
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>
>
>Sounds like they tried to solve a simple problem with a complex solution, the tollways in australia have electronic readers and you just stick a little transponder to your windscreen and it beeps as you drive through the toll plaza at 90Km/h - Trucks can use the same technology - Why would the german government try to use satelites to solve a problem that a $30 piece of electronics seems to do a good job with. In fact I am pretty sure that the reader on my car is made in Germany (the company who makes them at least - they are probably made in china), so surely the technology is available in germany and the rest of europe?

The Economist article discussed that, briefly. The idea behind the German plan is that:

- no toll booths are required
- the system can easily be expanded throughout the EU, including the new countries coming on board later this year, without a large infrastructure investment

Apparently this type of system is universally regarded as the "holy grail" for Europe, at least - if they could just get it working. It's actually a fairly cool app, IMO.