1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

DaimlerChrysler Admits Road Toll System Mistakes

March 9, 2004

Jürgen Hubbert, member of the board of DaimlerChrysler, told the daily Berliner Zeitung that his company carried part of the blame for the failure to launch Germany's new high-tech road toll system. The system, designed by a consortium of DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Telecom and the French firm Cofiroute, was to have launched its satellite-driven road toll system in August of last year. But technical glitches resulted in repeated delays and has cost the German government millions in lost revenue. The company is now promising a stripped down version of the system will go into operation on Jan. 1, 2005. The full version is to follow a year later. According to Hubbert, both industry and politicians are to blame for the launch failure. "Many points weren't worked on as carefully as they should have been," Hubbert told the newspaper. He defended the technology, however, saying in several years, politicians and technicians would be coming to Germany from all over the globe to see the world's best toll system in operation.

Skip next section DW's Top Story

DW's Top Story

Skip next section More stories from DW