The introduction of new technologies is usually never without its glitches. The Indian government’s initiative for seamless toll collection on national highways through FASTags found similar bugs. Some users, especially truck drivers and commercial vehicle owners that draw heavy toll taxes, found frequent incorrect deductions from the RFID based toll collection system. However, WheelsEye Technology, one of the largest FASTag providers in India has introduced a new automated feature to detect and fast track refunds for incorrect toll collections. The new AI-enabled FASTag management system will now auto-detect wrong transactions and generate refunds within 3-7 days. Earlier, these refunds would require around 30 days.
WheelsEye Technology reports that daily toll collection through FASTags is nearly Rs 70 crores. Out of which, commercial vehicle owners contribute upto Rs 60 crores. The company states that its survey which included 5 lakh FASTag users found that 3% of daily transactions were found to be faulty. With the new automates technology, WheelsEye Technology aims at rectifying toll transactions amounting to up to Rs 2 crore per day.
Sonesh Jain, EIR, WheelsEye, said, “Our core objective is to empower fleet owners and fix the problem associated with wrong toll deductions. The auto refund system facilitates a reverse-integration of the entire refund process to provide almost immediate refunds.”
Jain further added that the “focus is to make it [refunds] instant by the end of June 2021.”
The Indian government has announced the removal of all cash collection lanes on at toll plazas national highways from 2021. FASTags will become mandatory from January 1, in order to promote completely cashless transactions and reduce congestion at toll plazas. WheelsEye projects that FASTag collections will rise by three times from 2021. Thus, making the automated refund feature more crucial moving forward.
