India is moving towards fully automated, barrier-free tolling with the rollout of a multi-lane free flow (MLFF) system on national highways. The system uses optical cameras, RFID readers, and AI-powered number plate recognition to make toll collection seamless and fully electronic.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), through Indian Highways Management Co Ltd (IHMCL), has begun issuing tenders for implementing the MLFF system. The solution allows toll transactions by reading FASTag and Vehicle Registration Numbers (VRN) using high-performance RFID readers and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras.
Initially, MLFF will be implemented at around 25 national highway toll plazas during the current financial year. The setup will involve banks or financial entities working with system integrators to ensure smooth operation. “Seven or eight projects have already been out where the banks have bid, such as ICICI Bank, Airtel Payments Bank, JIO Payments platform, and IDFC First. These are the four frontrunner banks as far as the MLFF space is concerned,” said Anuresh Sharma, Chief Operating Officer – Highway Traffic Management System at Arya Omnitalk, a company providing intelligent tolling solutions.
The MLFF system relies on three key components: the front ANPR, rear ANPR, and the RFID reader on gantries. “The RFID tag, the FASTag has to be read and the front license plate of the vehicle is to be captured. Through optical character recognition technology, we will identify the vehicle registration number. When the vehicle is leaving the gantry, we take a picture of the rear license plate. So, we have three inputs: front ANPR, rear ANPR, and the RFID reader,” Sharma explained.
AI-enabled optical character recognition ensures accurate license plate reading, while LiDAR technology helps classify vehicle types. Transactions are captured and transmitted to the responsible bank or financial entity, which verifies the details with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and debits the FASTag wallet. Currently operational at publicly funded toll plazas, private concessionaires are beginning to adopt MLFF, with future agreements likely to mandate its use.
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