EV enforcement world-first for Q-Free

The world’s first zero-emission enforcement vehicle, which went live in the southern Netherlands city of Bergen op Zoom on 12 April, uses ARVOO’s rooftop-mounted cameras and Q-Free Netherland’s INTRADA Automatic Licence Plate Recognition (ALPR) software.

With the retirement of the Netherlands’ Chipknip electronic card payment system, Bergen op Zoom decided to digitize the existing badge system for on-street parking, as well as enforcement.

Councill Yvonne Kammeijer, who is in charge of the city’s parking policy, is also the alderman for sustainability, and she took a decision to use an Electric Vehicle (EV) as part of the solution. This was in line with a policy of leading by example, and also to take advantage of EV’s silence in operation.

The new EV-based enforcement vehicle can check whether a vehicle holds a parking permit, or has paid. It can also account for whether a vehicle is a new arrival and the driver is absent but in the process of making a payment, and notify on-street operatives to make checks and issue penalty notices as appropriate. Unlike the previous system where a violation notice was placed on an offending vehicle’s windscreen, with the new digitized system notices are generated from the back office and sent to owners’/drivers’ registered or home addresses.

About Q-Free

Q-Free is a leading global supplier of ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) products and solutions. The company has approximately 460 employees, offices in 20 countries, and presence on all continents. Headquartered in Trondheim, Norway, Q-Free is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker QFR.