NPCI Develops AI-Powered FASTag Parking System for Seamless Payments

3 Mar 2025 , 10:07 PM

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is working on an AI parking payment system that will not require the use of the traditional FASTag Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology found with tolls and select parking lots.

Rather than using RFID tags (found in FASTag stickers placed on the windshields of the vehicles), the system will work by taking pictures of vehicle number plates at the parking lots.

The captured image will be converted into numeric data with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) which will automatically debit the FASTag linked account to pay for parking. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, which is currently in use with FASTag, helps wireless transactions at tolls and parking spots, using radio waves.

According to Dilip Asbe, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NPCI, the new payment system will use AI-based number plate identification instead of RFID-based identification for the payments to be processed. A proof-of-concept (PoC) is being carried out at private and public parking lots across India.

It is intended for all pre-registered FASTag users and is meant to facilitate seamless parking payments without the need for hardware other than a smartphone or extra stickers. The NPCI would work with several startups to improve and upgrade the AI-based parking in the current days.

At present, FASTag uses RFID technology to facilitate toll payments, but this new method will also implement AI in tandem with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to make it faster and more secure.

The AI-driven system aims to:

• Minimizing manual interventions at parking lots will reduce congestion.
• Additionally, it helps in improving payment accuracy by reducing reliance on physical RFID tags.
• Detect counterfeit or altered license plates to prevent fraud and improve safety at parking payments.