All Electronic Tolling (AET) is a concept where 100% of all tolls are collected electronically. AET can be performed on the open road, at highway speeds, without the need for a conventional toll plaza. It can also involve virtual toll stations on ramps for closed ticket systems, such as many of Kapsch’s installations on Ontario’s Highway 407 Express Toll Route.

AET could simply be automated tolling as vehicles drive through un-manned toll lanes, after an existing plaza has been upgraded for total automation. However, AET involves continuous motion without having to stop at all and usually is implemented using Open Road Tolling (ORT) configurations. The benefits of AET include reduced costs, smaller footprint, less traffic congestion caused in the toll collection process, safety improvements and reduced environmental impact versus less automated methods.

The common facility characteristics of tollways that are best matched to AET are:

• Primarily commuter roadways
• Primarily in-state user based
• Primarily ETC driven or ETC will be required of all users
• Heavily congested toll plazas

AET, in which transponders or license plates are read at full highway speed with no stop-to-pay has been in successful use for over a decade on Ontario’s Highway 407 toll road and Kapsch transponders enable the majority of toll transactions on that AET system.