Audi to offer mirror-based toll-payment technology

Your next car may be able to help eliminate one of the annoyances of modern driving by eliminating the need to either stop and pay tolls, or invest in individual transponders that are good only for tollways in certain areas.

Audi AG's upcoming e-tron electric crossover will have an integrated toll paying technology developed by Gentex Corp. that is embedded directly in the interior mirror, and compatible with certain toll roads in the U.S. and Canada.

The crossover, expected to compete with Tesla, is scheduled to be unveiled Sept. 17 and is expected to arrive in showrooms during the first part of next year.

Vehicle Integrated Tolling adds another piece of electronic technology within the plastic body of the mirror module. Gentex, based in Zeeland, Mich., already encases its automatic dimming electronics, garage door openers and other items in its mirror systems. The auto supplier does not mold its own housings, but works with outside suppliers.

Audi is the first automaker to adapt the toll-payment technology, Craig Piersma, director of marketing at Gentex, told Automotive News. AN is a sister publication of Plastics News.

"We worked with a company called TransCore and we actually went and got agreements from all the different tolling authorities to be able to create one universal module that sort of emulates the protocols from all of these different tolling authorities," Piersma said.

Nashville-based TransCore builds tolling infrastructures for tolling authorities throughout the U.S.

The rearview mirror was an "ideal location" to integrate the module because it captures of a good view of a tolling gantry, he said. The development process took roughly three years to complete.

The mirror-based system removes "windscreen clutter" and the need to juggle different toll accounts, Audi said. This year, the automaker said the system will be compatible with toll roads in Mexico.

Through Audi's MMI touch-screen navigation system, drivers can turn the module on and off and adjust the occupant settings for high-occupancy vehicle and high-occupancy toll lanes, the automaker said.

The system is designed for use by any automaker, Piersma said, and the supplier hopes to be able to announce a couple of additional automakers by the Consumer Electronics Show technology expo time frame early next year.

At some point, the supplier also plans to have an aftermarket version of a mirror that would contain the toll module, he said.

"It is our hope that [Audi] will expand it to other Audi vehicles in their lineup and it is Gentex's hope that certainly other automakers will soon offer the technology as well," Piersma said.