ERP X

ERP X

Problem

The Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system plays a critical role in managing traffic congestion in Singapore. The current infrastructure has reached end-of-life and needs to be decommissioned soon. Its successor, ERP 2.0, has encountered significant headwinds in the public eye.

ERP X is our attempt to prototype a possible way forward, with the goal of starting a conversation around alternative implementations.

Solution

The ERP X concept is simple: Use existing traffic cameras to charge ERP tolls. Drivers are informed via their mobile phone.

Step 1

Vehicle passes through camera

Step 2

System reads car plate

Step 3

ERP toll charged to phone

Our prototype uses a regular office webcam to stream video footage of cars driving past. The software reads the license plates using common machine learning and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) techniques. The ERP toll is charged to drivers' credit cards, and they are sent a mobile app notification.

Instead of installing hardware into their vehicle, we also provide drivers with a mobile app where they can register multiple vehicles, set up automated credit card payments, and view their payment history.

Impact

We believe this concept is a potential alternative to the ERP system.

The technology also has other use cases, such as:

• Traffic enforcement - Serving enforcement fines, such as speeding or red light tickets.

• Border crossing - Processing vehicles, monitoring wait times, and catching errant drivers who cut queues.

Further reading

• Detailed report - More info about the ERP X prototype and the team’s findings.

• Slideshow - Presentation on the ERP X prototype.

Team

ERP X was made by a multi-disciplinary team of engineers, designers, product ops and policy officers.

Left to right: Daryl Chan, Justyn Oh, Stephanie Siow, Blake Gong, Christabel Png, Mike Chen, Samuel Koh (unpictured)

Demo Day

Appendix