Audi Will Launch Integrated Highway Toll Collection This Year

Audi will launch integrated toll collection technology on select vehicles in North America this year, a move the automaker says will make it the first to do so.

It's the auto industry's latest step toward vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technology, a pool Audi has already waded into with the City of Las Vegas, where its cars can talk to traffic signals.

Audi's toll collection tech will work through a transponder built into the rearview mirror, a design choice that eliminates the need for those ugly transponders regular toll road users currently have to attach to the inside of their cars' windshields.

Building the transponder into the car also means the driver can make adjustments to it through the car's infotainment system. Audi says its MMI controller can be used to turn the transponder on and off and change settings for HOV lanes.

Audi has teamed up with a company called Gentex, which will act as a go-between with companies and organizations that operate toll highways across North America. Drivers will create an account with Gentex, which will coordinate the (presumably automated) payment of tolls when the car enters a tolled section of roadway.

According to Audi, its transponder is compatible with toll roads in the US and in parts of Canada and Mexico. It hasn't specified what vehicles will be first to get the technology.