As some of you will be aware, the government is still insisting on trialling road pricing technology. My employers. who happen to be very big in this field in Germany, are paying some of us employees to be involved.

This involves having an ugly lump of grey plastic stuck inside your windscreen while you drive around the place and checking, via email, that the reports generated are correct.

The project's not gone live yet, as BT have pulled out of the project already, for reasons that aren't clear.

I'll report more as things proceed.

Phil

I'd be careful what you say about it on an Internet forum, you seem fairly easy to identify

(name as User ID, pic of your dog and the fact you work for the company and have the 'ugly lump of grey plastic' on your windscreen). Unless there's no NDA and your company are cool about it of course

Dave.

Do us all a favour and drop a sheet of lead over the box for some of the journeys you make and then tell them the reports don't match your actual driving.

Hopefully they'll decide the technology is too unreliable and bin it

I'd be careful what you say about it on an Internet forum, you seem fairly easy to identify

(name as User ID, pic of your dog and the fact you work for the company and have the 'ugly lump of grey plastic' on your windscreen). Unless there's no NDA and your company are cool about it of course

Dave.

There's no NDA, and there are three other companies involved. I've never mentioned who I work for on this forum, and it's not even installed in a Skoda!

The dog has been sworn to silence, and has a different hairstyle now.

Phil

Do us all a favour and drop a sheet of lead over the box for some of the journeys you make and then tell them the reports don't match your actual driving.

Hopefully they'll decide the technology is too unreliable and bin it

It's highly tempting. Part of my reason for signing up (apart from the money) was to get some idea of how it would work. The technology is nothing new -GPS to work out the car's position, plus GSM or GPRS to send the data. Given what it does, the thing's huge!

Phil

The dog has been sworn to silence, and has a different hairstyle now.

Phil

:rofl::rofl:

Whats he like under pressure though ???:P

yep, as soon as it goes live they'll start charging us per mile

.. and I'll start breaking the law

The dog has been sworn to silence, and has a different hairstyle now.

Phil

We've got a Tibetan Terrier, too

Faraday cage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Can be easily knocked up for a few quid from some mesh :P

Faraday cage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Can be easily knocked up for a few quid from some mesh :P

Will one of these disrupt a Taser? If so, could you incorporate a lightweight flexible faraday cage mesh in clothing

We've got a Tibetan Terrier, too

And if yours is like mine, we're lost. She'd sell her soul for bacon. Or blue cheese!

Will one of these disrupt a Taser? If so, could you incorporate a lightweight flexible faraday cage mesh in clothing

you could -but you'll have trouble earthing it, unless you trail a roll of cable behind you. Probably better wearing a non conductive suit when going out to commit crimes -or a teflon one, so the barbs can't hook in.....

Phil

the real issue no ones making any fuss about are the rights to privacy,where else in the world would a government be able to force its population to be tracked wherever they go,this is what worries me.And all in the name of tax too,its absolutley obscene imho.

the real issue no ones making any fuss about are the rights to privacy,where else in the world would a government be able to force its population to be tracked wherever they go,this is what worries me.And all in the name of tax too,its absolutley obscene imho.

I agree. We're told that the system just records how many miles you do on each type of road in each county.

But can you really believe that a government (especially our nosey, busybody lot) wil be able to resist using the data elsewhere? I'm not bothered with this car, as I only use it for my 35 miles a day commute, and occasional business trips.

Phil

I agree. We're told that the system just records how many miles you do on each type of road in each county.

But can you really believe that a government (especially our nosey, busybody lot) wil be able to resist using the data elsewhere? I'm not bothered with this car, as I only use it for my 35 miles a day commute, and occasional business trips.

Phil

i find it increasingly difficult to believe anyhing this government say

Wackie Jackie Is a liar and I would imagine that the whole lot is stored on a huge database no doubt handed back to a government system.

If they didn't want to track you they could just use road side beacons which identify a road charging grade and then your car would log how many you have passed and talk to a base station every so often via wi-fi or zigbee etc.

The whole system is basically a mobile phone with GPS in it and this is only needed if you want to make phone calls, or somebody wants to be able to track you in real time.

Wackie Jackie Is a liar and I would imagine that the whole lot is stored on a huge database no doubt handed back to a government system.

She's from redditch - land of the inbred....

She also claims people keep coming up to her and demanding she introduces ID cards as they want them NOW!

Yeah right....

I want one NOW

:sofahide:

I want one NOW

:sofahide:

Feck orf!

Another reason to leave the UK.. I am seriously amazed about how many things like that are occurring in the UK - even in the US things are getting less like this...

It's political suicide to introduce it. The gormless monkeys that run Manchester City Council are facing calls for their resignation following the congestion charge vote result. Labour will be out on their backside in 2010 also. It all depends on Cameron & co, but I imagine they're seeing a big shift in public opinion, people really have had enough of this BS.

Now where did I put my tinfoil?

Wonder what would happen if we then start swapping them between ourselves? That would result in some interesting statistics :rubchin:

Steve

It's political suicide to introduce it. The gormless monkeys that run Manchester City Council are facing calls for their resignation following the congestion charge vote result. Labour will be out on their backside in 2010 also. It all depends on Cameron & co, but I imagine they're seeing a big shift in public opinion, people really have had enough of this BS.

But there'salso a mention of a big increase in SPECS (average speed camera ) network .

You know the one - takes a photo of you're number plate ,then works out you're speed between two points .

So they've got you're VRM,know the road (s) you're on , know the time , only thing it don't do at present is keep the data if you ain't speeding .

Possibly less work to use this data a the basis of a charge network than rely on a GPS system (which relies on RF getting to a satelite ), when some areas can't get C5.

On the other hand it could be RFID -and then it won't be long before we see a Cap't roadcharge taking out the roadside units .(will it ?:confused::confused:)

Then again - unless it's a EU wide scheme ,cars from France etc won't be included . (And suddenly we see a surge of french registered cars in the country ,with the only drawback that they cano nly stay for about 6 months )

They way this lot charge, you might as well buy a french car, use it and sell it again....

In fact I think I've got an idea, buy european cars new and cheap, 6 months rental to a UK party on HP type terms and then sell it on the second hand market.

They way this lot charge, you might as well buy a french car, use it and sell it again....

In fact I think I've got an idea, buy european cars new and cheap, 6 months rental to a UK party on HP type terms and then sell it on the second hand market.

That would be a good idea if sterling was not in the toilet against the euro.