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At the same time, FETC started rolling out
infrared onboard units (OBUs) to the country’s
seven million road users who go through the tolling
system. However, this proved too costly for the
business. By 2012, FETC decided to buy back all its
infrared OBUs and to use RFID (radio frequency
identification) eTags instead. This drastically improved
performance, with the ETC system having a 94 per
cent eTag usage rate and a 99.99 per cent tolling
accuracy rate. “This is an interesting story about
digital transformation,” YC says. “Before, we were
thinking from a technology perspective, not a solution
perspective. Then we started thinking of the future
business, service and operating requirements, and we
built the solutions ourselves.”
Far Eastern Group Chairman and CEO Douglas
Hsu adds that getting the system underway was
a hard time for himself and his employees. “But
innovation, transformation and restructure are in
our DNA,” he says. “I always encourage our
employees to embrace change, utilise new technology,
seek out new business models and reshape the
organisation if necessary.”
The ETC system helped reduce traffic congestion.
Douglas says it was a corporate social responsibility
project designed to bring convenience to road users.
“Every time you stop and restart a car, the
production of carbon dioxide is large. But now you
don’t have to stop to pay the toll,” he says. “And
there is no need for people to man the toll gates;
you basically have an AI (artificial intelligence) system
collecting the money.”
However, when the system was completed, it still
took some convincing to get all of Taiwan to adopt
it. “A lot of people thought they should have a
choice, “ Douglas explains. “And other people would
think ‘I don’t often go on the toll road so why
should I put that tag on?’ All these points of view
have some justification,” Douglas said. “While the
government does not force us to adopt eTag, Taiwan’s
MLFF ETC system still achieves a high usage rate,
showing the convenience of eTag and the system’s
success. It also shines the spotlight on Taiwan ETC.”
The ETC system gained a lot of positive response
worldwide. It was nominated for the R&D 100
Awards and received a US IBTTA (International
Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association) Toll
Excellence Award as well as an ITS (Intelligent
Transport System) World Congress Industry Award.
“The system is quite popular in India, the Middle
East and Eastern European countries,” YC adds.
“Because the system is still at an early stage, they
want to learn more about it, but will adopt it.”Douglas foresees several opportunities for the use
of eTags in the future. “Just imagine, you come to
this toll and the first sensor registers you coming in.
The amount of information from that entry can
immediately give you all kinds of derivative business,”
he says. “It can actually ask the car, ‘Where are you
planning to stop? What do you want to eat or drink?
Where do you want to go play golf?’”
Looking back, Douglas is proud of what FETC
has been able to accomplish. “YC did most of the
work because he is very dedicated,” he says. “We were
working on things that had never been done before.
“We didn’t have a big budget to buy technology,
so we had to develop it ourselves. It’s good we did all
of this. But, would I do it again? No,” he laughs.“ I always encourage our employees
to embrace change, utilise new
technology, constantly seek out
new business models and reshape
the organisation if necessary.”
Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Managing Director YC Chang.INNOVATE | Interview