KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 — Malaysia is set to launch public trials of a barrierless toll booth system using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology to ease congestion and modernise its toll collection process.
The trial, led by highway operator PLUS Malaysia, will begin in mid-August on the North-South Expressway and involve thousands of selected participants, Singapore’s The Straits Times reported.
If successful, the ANPR pilot will serve as a key component in Malaysia’s nationwide multi-lane fast flow (MLFF) toll system, which authorities aim to roll out by 2027.
“This pilot is a crucial step in our shift towards the MLFF system,” a source familiar with the project was quoted as saying, adding that it would assess ANPR’s performance in real traffic conditions.
The Works Ministry has endorsed the move to a MLFF system through a business-to-business model, with Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan telling Parliament this week that it will not impose any financial burden on the government.
Unlike current systems that require vehicles to slow down or stop, ANPR will identify vehicles via high-resolution cameras and charge tolls automatically using linked e-payment accounts.
The ANPR trial on Plus highways will start at nine toll plazas between Hutan Kampung and Sungai Dua in northern Penang.
To participate, users must download a free mobile app, register their vehicle number, and link a payment method such as a credit or debit card.
The system will use ANPR cameras to scan number plates, match them with a centralised database, and deduct tolls automatically without requiring drivers to slow down or tap a card.
Although vehicles in the trial will still pass through existing toll barriers, future phases may remove the physical gates entirely as the system matures.
ANPR has been shown to process tolls up to four times faster than radio frequency identification (RFID), which, like SmartTAG, still requires vehicles to reduce speed when approaching toll lanes.
The PLUS initiative mirrors similar systems in places like Singapore’s Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) and Taiwan.
