Q-Free pioneers next-generation road user charging (RUC) for private vehicles

April 24, 2025 Read time: 2 mins

 

Since 1984, Q-Free has been a leader in tolling solutions, and now the company is driving innovation in road user charging (RUC) — a smarter, more flexible way to pay for road usage. Unlike traditional tolling, RUC calculates fees based on distance driven, with dynamic pricing for factors like rush hour congestion or urban vs rural travel. It also shifts revenue focus, covering external costs like accidents, noise, and delays rather than just infrastructure.

With declining fuel tax revenues due to electric vehicles and reduced car ownership, RUC offers a sustainable alternative. However, existing heavy-vehicle RUC solutions are too bulky, costly, and power-intensive for private cars. Q-Free is changing that with a next-generation GNSS-based tag — theTag4All, which will be launched in Seville.

Tag4All is compact, battery-powered and easy to install. It provides an unprecedented solution that removes RUC barriers with a cable-free device that takes privacy to a new level without sharing any detailed location information. Hence, it is fully compliant with GDPR regulations while offering fully-compliant DSRC technology.

RUC implementations vary by markets, with governments typically overseeing revenue collection. Q-Free’s development is backed by key stakeholders, including the Norwegian Research Council, SINTEF, and the Norwegian Public Road Administration. Following successful large-scale pilots, the company is refining the technology for broader adoption.

“With Tag4All, we’ve developed a solution that combines advanced technology with user simplicity. Our goal has been to make road user charging easy to use for private vehicles without compromising on privacy or reliability,” says Ola Martin Lykkja, RUC 2.0 Project Manager

Q-Free is inviting delegates to its stand at the ITS European Congress to learn more about RUC 2.0, Tag4All and how it’s shaping the future of road charging.

Stand: D4

Related Content

  • EU to implement fairer rules for road charging
    May 29, 2018
    EU countries will need to switch to distance-based road use charges for trucks and buses in 2023 and for cars in 2026. The European Parliament’s Transport Committee has voted on new amendments in a bid to meet emission reduction targets and make charges fairer. Distance-based charging is intended to ensure vehicles are charged according to actual road use and pollution generated. The rule will also apply to goods vans over 2.4 tonnes from 2022. EU countries would need to set different road charging ra
    Read More
  • Wireless charging project could change perceptions of electric vehicles
    October 10, 2012
    A two-year pilot project has begun in London with taxi firm Addison Lee and electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Renault, which uses the principle of magnetic induction to jump electricity from a base station direct to the vehicle’s battery to deliver wireless charging. The charging technology being used is called Halo and has been developed by mobile innovations company Qualcomm, the organisation responsible for processors powering the latest generation of smartphones and tablets. ‘EV drivers will opt for th
    Read More
  • Taiwan to go all-electronic free flow tolling
    November 28, 2013
    Taiwan’s 900 kilometres of toll roads will transition to all-electronic free flow operations early next year. The roads, which include three north-south routes with 22 toll points, carry out around 1.7 million transactions a day, generating some US$700 million of annual toll revenue. Private contractor Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Company (FETC), under contract to the National Freeway Bureau to collect the tolls, says that the IR-based toll system worked well and some 43 per cent of transactio
    Read More
  • ITS innovations – a change for the better?
    May 5, 2016
    Josef Czako takes a look at what the future developments may hold for both the transport sector and society. As the dust of the 2015 World Congress in Bordeaux settles, we can begin to see more clearly some of the most important future innovations in ITS are starting to be linked together: mobility as a service (MaaS), mobility pricing and autonomous vehicles. They all are based on global trends, like digitalisation, automation and servitisation.
    Read More

Highlighted Content