Japan's ETC, one of the most advanced systems in the world.
1.Unified System Compatible With All Toll Roads in Japan
Japan's expressways and highways are operated by a lot of road companies. Accordingly, the toll rates varies -----flat rate, mileage charge, various toll discounts, etc. Japan's ETC is a unified system that enables easy toll payment on all the ETC-equipped toll roads across the country via a single onboard unit on the vehicle.
e.g. US ETC usually requires several tags in different regions of highways.
2.World Standard 5.8GHz Active Communication
An open market has been created for ETC, since the system adopts 5.8GHz active wireless communication based on the world standards.
Telecommunication application interface used for Japan's DSRC has been designed based on ISO14906 in 1998.
In 2000, ITU (International Telecommunication Union) announced that 5.8GHz DSRC should be a recommended frequency range for ETC as an international standard.
3.Two-Piece System Suitable for Multi-Use
Two-piece system was adopted to separate information on vehicle owner and toll payer, in which the vehicle information is stored in the onboard unit, and the payer one stored in the ETC card.
Thus the toll can be paid by everyone who owns an ETC card regardless of the owner of the onboard unit (i.e. the car owner).
The two-piece system has superior extensibility for future multi-functioning purposes -----various services can be applied in addition to the toll payment.
4.Information Security and Protection of Privacy
ETC card has superior security against fraud use and protects user privacy more firmly comparing to the conventional magnetic card, since the ETC card enables mutual authentication and encryption of recorded data.
A series of advanced security procedures -----such as mutual authentication between ETC card and onboard unit, encryption of data, and tampering check---- prevents recorded data from spoofing, tampering, and forgery, etc.