From January 2027, data from ERP 2 on-board units can be used to prevent, detect and solve crimes

Starting from January 2027, Singapore will be able to utilize data from the upgraded Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) on-board units (OBUs) to aid in the prevention, detection, and solving of crimes, according to Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Goh Pei Ming. This data will be one of the investigative and intelligence tools available to authorities in the fight against crime.

The ERP 2 system, which employs satellite technology instead of gantries to determine a vehicle's location for toll charging, will require all Singapore-registered vehicles to have the new OBU installed from the beginning of the year. Goh emphasized that safeguards will be in place to control access and use of this data, following similar controls applied to other data used by the Home Team.

The data's retention period will be limited to what is necessary for completing criminal investigations or court proceedings. Law enforcement agencies will be bound by the same legal and data governance safeguards as other sensors or information sources. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced in September that ERP 2 will be utilized for enforcement efforts concerning vehicle-related offenses, such as illegal cross-border taxi services.

However, LTA indicated that further enhancements were needed before ERP 2 could be used for enforcing speeding offenses. In response to a question from Tin Pei Ling (Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC) regarding measures to protect the use of ERP 2 data, Sun Xueling, Senior Minister of State for National Development and Transport, stated that the OBUs have a high level of security and encryption, conforming to stringent international technical standards and regulations set by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).

Sun explained that the data stored in the OBUs cannot be directly accessed by motorists; instead, it is accessed only by the government and stored securely. When individual vehicle data is transferred to LTA's backend system for traffic management and planning, it is aggregated and anonymized. Specific vehicles can be identified for enforcement purposes, but this will involve retrieving location data from sensors and systems, which LTA can do.

Sun cited detecting deregistered vehicles, off-peak cars, and vehicles that should not be driven on roads as examples of potential uses of ERP 2 data. These instances are already enforced under the previous ERP system.