Slashdot Mirror
China Car-Tracking Scheme Could Allow Higher Fuel Prices For Gas-Guzzling Cars (thestack.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, traditionally a test-bed for nationwide infrastructure and technology schemes, 200,000 vehicles have been experimentally hooked into a real-time traffic-monitoring system based on RFID and roadside monitoring stations. China's state-owned Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASC) claims that such intense monitoring will be necessary for the driverless cars of the future, and to foil license-plate forgeries. On Monday the general manager of Chinese auto manufacturer Great Wall Motor suggested that a monitoring scheme of such scope could also be used to introduce a wide range of usage-based levies, and to easily ensure that less efficient cars could be charged more for fuel at gas stations.
of the totalitarians in Beijing. They dream of taking my big pickup of the road.
I'm sure there's no political gain from the monitoring of citizens either. I mean, this is China, right? The first thing on their mind is always the environment, not controlling the citizenry!
because china government sees and controls everything, and the citizens are powerless.....
would never work in a free country like the u.s.a....
owait.
I have to hand it to the Chinese. They've figured out a way to track their citizens to stamp out dissent AND manage to make money doing it. The US Government has to be angry about this. The CCP just made them look like a bunch of chumps--how much did anyone make on that NSA metadata program?
why not use the car's odometer and charge them more at license renewal time?
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
They already pay more for gas. They use more of it.
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
RFID will not solve any of the problems it is purported to solve here: Driverless cars get by just fine today without it, and license plate forgers will just disable the RFID tag.
It will help in real-time tracking the traveling (Chinese) public though.
Wouldn't this just end up punishing the poor more than people with big cars? People who do not have a lot of money might not be able to get the most efficient/clean cars, and those who can afford more efficient cars would just pay the fees and keep their nice big car anyway.
For those that aren't aware: the license plate can cost more than the car itself; hence the forgeries.
Life is not for the lazy.
Because driving a gas-guzzler (usually older as the only thing poor folk can afford) isn't punishment enough. It's like winning the lottery: you beat the stratospheric odds and you end up having to pay ridiculously high tax rates on the winnings even for a state-based game. I'm far from a libertarian, but that has always struck me as total bullshit^.
And yes, I'm also terrified of this coming to the US (Oregon is seriously considering real-time monitored mileage-based taxation).
^ - Back when they were first considering the national lotteries, David Brinkley observed: "The mob used to have something similar called the Numbers game. But the odds were better, and you didn't have to pay any taxes on the winnings."
The solution? Don't take you car to the gas station, take a few 5 gallon Jerry cans instead.
Over the long haul, as one of the first IPO investors in China back in the 90s, I've learned a few things.
One is that you need to verify and then not trust. Keep verifying.
I predict license plate fraud will be endemic in wealthy fuel stops and in remote regions.
Is this a good idea? Possibly, but it needs to be closely monitored, as up to 50 percent of the Chinese supply chain has fraudulent materials, and people will politely pretend to do something and then not do it.
A better method would be to disincentive parking and give prime spots for parking to hybrid and plug-in electric cars with cars towed and sold at auction for violations. And prime parking for bike users.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Exactly. If they wanted to, they could raise the price of gasoline to the point where the externalized costs (i.e. pollution) are taken into account. The result would be a system which charges people in proportion to their consumption & environmental harm without the need for Big Brother. I suspect they want to track all cars anyway and are fishing for reasons to justify it.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it dissolve.
Increasing tax on fuel will have a similar effect.
This idea is stupid - it's a technological solution looking for a problem. What if I buy an efficient car and tweak the engine to make it faster and less efficient. Does it still count as an efficient car?
Tax vehicles by weight if you have to - the heavier they are, the less efficient they tend ot be.
And tax the fuel. The more fuel you use, the more you pay.
And this does not involve any fancy tech.
Because that would deprive them of this handy excuse for total tracking everywhere. Maybe, just maybe, the people who keep on insisting on labeling our every move with our identities aren't inherently evil, but they are certainly paving the road to hell with their intentions.
Please note well that it is not just China, and it's not just car traffic. The main difference between China and elsewhere is that they can much more easily "just do it" without having to slowly sneak it in lest pesky activists shout bloody murder again.
But yes, there are many many other ways to reach the stated goals, without weaponising people's identities against them. It's not how the current crop of systems designers think, though. Any big corporate and many "web" companies do this aplenty, as do governments, large and small. It's everywhere. Just look.
On gas guzzlers at the pump every time you fill up.
I pay it for room to live in an accident.
So, I can exploit the system to get lowest price possible, excellent.
It is still something difficult for me to believe: the big SUVs, and pickups will weigh around ~6,000 pounds. A lighter sedan will be around 3,100 pounds. A small 4 door car, will weigh ~2,500 pounds, a Smart car weighs ~1,800 pounds. The Nissan Frontier pickup weighs ~3,700 pounds. A big SUV is effectively 2 sedans. In addition higher gas costs, there is higher depreciation.
What fraction of the time is Joe Consumer driving around in a Hummer, or Titan, when a Versa, or Fronter can't do the job? I'd bet less than 25% of the time. Vehicle rental means you can use a big, expensive vehicle, only when you really need it, and not worry about it, when you don't. Maybe it's all those vehicle rental taxes...
Don't less efficient cars already pay more for fuel because... ya know... they use more fuel?
His big pickup carries solar cells to construction sites, you insensitive clod!