We put the controversial next-gen ERP 2.0 OBU through its paces. Here’s what you can expect…
Ready or not, like it or not, your next car will come fitted with this thing we’re testing today; the ERP 2.0 On-Board Unit (OBU). The gantry-based ERP system has been around for 25 years and these gantries are set to be replaced by a new Global Navigation Satellite System that will simply be known as ERP 2.0.
For ERP 2.0 to work, vehicles must be fitted with compatible OBUs. This is a three-piece system that replaces the previous one-piece In-vehicle Unit (IU).
Recently, we had a chance to test the new OBU to find out what the future of driving around Singapore will feel like with this new contraption. Public reaction has been controversial, to say the least, and we wanted to see for ourselves if the reaction is justified or unfounded.
OBU installation and setup
The OBU we tested was fitted to a Toyota RAV4 hybrid sports edition. Installation was said to take less than two hours, but we were unable to verify this as servicing was also combined with this appointment.
At first glance, the installation appeared to be neat with a minimum of wires visible. Although the display screen is optional.
Instead, the vehicle owner can opt to have the cashcard balance and other ERP 2.0-related information shown via a smartphone app. So, drivers who are used to mounting their smartphones where the OBU display is located can continue to do so.
Another good reason to go the smartphone app route is that the OBU touchscreen was found to be somewhat glitchy – it was slow to react to inputs at times and would freeze if you tried to navigate too quickly between screens.
The display graphics and User Interface (UI) feel not unlike that of the early generation “Papa-Go”-type of GPS navigation devices that appeared before the dawn of Google Maps and Waze.
OBU test drive
The OBU touchscreen display is about the size of an iPhone 15, which diagonally measures about 6.1 inches or 15.5cm in today’s money. This means that the display is certainly sizeable and impossible to miss.
In addition to the Cashcard balance displayed at the top left corner, the default setting displays the time in a big and bold font, underscored with the day and date.
Within a few minutes of driving, this writer found the display to be distracting and thankfully, the date and time display can be turned off. In any case, the Cashcard balance amount will always be shown in the top left corner.
The screen brightness can also be adjusted via the touchscreen and thankfully, so can the volume of the sound output that comes out of the Cashcard reader mounted on the front passenger’s side of the transmission tunnel near the footwell. It’s a very strange and inconvenient location to install this unit.
For starters, the card reader is out of the driver’s sight, so he or she would have to fumble around to find the said item and retrieve or insert the cashcard purely by feel. Naturally, the driver’s eyes are fully off the road at this point so changing Cashcards on the move is a big no-no.
Speaking of no-nos, one can imagine the high jinks that would ensue with dodgy drivers using the “I was reaching for my Cashcard” routine as the driver’s left hand would be in precarious proximity to the front passenger’s legs!
In a car such as the Toyota RAV4, my 1.8-metre frame can just about reach the Cashcard reader. In larger vehicles such as the Toyota Vellfire for example, this would be an impossibility and the driver would have to walk over to the other side of the car to insert a cashcard.
This would be problematic in situations where one might need to remove their Cashcards to utilise complimentary parking tickets for example. After exiting the car park, the driver would have to stop the vehicle, get out and insert the Cashcard, not so easy if you have just driven out of Ion Orchard for example… (Update: As of April 19 2024, ERP 2.0 OBUs now feature a button to remotely disable the Cashcard without needing to remove it. Read the full article here.)
I’m not sure if the ERP 2.0 OBU was designed with an ageing population in mind, but not only does the display flash “ERP $1.50 Deducted from Card” in a font size even Mr Magoo can see without his glasses, the default volume of the speaker in the cashcard reader is so loud and shrill, canine passengers might start howling uncontrollably whenever there’s a Cashcard deduction.
Quite why it needs to be so intrusively loud is beyond me.
Some OBU features are useful
It’s not all bad news for the ERP 2.0 OBU. There are some handy features to be found. For one thing, the Global Navigation Satellite System is freakishly accurate when it comes to recognizing that you’ve just turned into a street when the bus lane timing is in effect.
For obvious reasons, I didn’t further test the accuracy by actually driving onto the bus lane to see if it could tell I was committing an offence.
No longer will there be a need to search for Autoapp.sg’s bus lane timings page to find out if and when they can drive on the leftmost yellow lane.
The OBU also warns the driver to reduce speed when a school zone is in effect as well as when approaching speed cameras nearby. Tellingly, there’s an Apps menu which is blank for now, but it points other possibilities that we may see in the future.
On the whole, there’s nothing the ERP 2.0 OBU can do that a well-designed smartphone app can’t do. It may have been less complicated to issue a pre-loaded smartphone to every motorist and that device could also have a built-in dash cam feature added for good measure.
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