A controversial truck toll system that will see trucks paying a toll on all autobahns in Germany will be tested for two months ahead of its official introduction in that country on Nov. 2.

Toll-Collect, the joint venture between DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Telekom and Cofiroute, was created to run the system that charges heavy trucks using Germany's road network. Infrared detection systems placed on autobahns will read truck number plates and check if the vehicle has been registered with the transport computer data base.
The German transport authorities hope to raise some 2 billion euro ($2.2 billion) per year to maintain and build roads, bridges, railways and waterways. The toll is also designed to divert freight to less-polluting rail and river systems.
Beginning Nov. 2, trucks using the roads in Germany, a transport gateway to eastern and southern Europe, will have to pay on average 12.4 cents per kilometre, depending on their size and the gas emissions they produce.
To compensate German truckers, who already pay indirectly for the upkeep of roads when they buy fuel here, Berlin has said it will provide them with a total of some 600 million euros ( $678 million) in tax rebates.
The toll system was originally expected to launch at the end of August, but it has been hampered by technical problems and delays.