Singapore drivers may soon find their vehicle movements playing a bigger role in criminal investigations, as the authorities prepare to use data collected through the new Electronic Road Pricing 2 (ERP 2) system to prevent and solve crimes.
The Home Team will begin using ERP 2 data from January 2027, raising questions about how vehicle location information could be accessed, used and retained by government agencies.
Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Goh Pei Ming announced the development in Parliament on 3 November 2026.
He explained that Home Team agencies are legally authorised to obtain information from various sources, including sensors, to support their crime-fighting operations.
The data collected through ERP 2 will be subject to existing legal requirements and data governance safeguards governing information obtained by the authorities.
Police Can Use ERP 2 Data for Criminal Investigations
Although ERP 2 was primarily introduced to modernise Singapore’s road pricing system, its capabilities extend beyond collecting road tolls.
Senior Minister of State for Transport Sun Xueling explained that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) can retrieve vehicle-specific location information from its sensors and systems when required for enforcement purposes.
Under normal circumstances, individual vehicle information is aggregated and anonymised before being transferred to LTA’s backend system for traffic management and planning.
However, when authorities need to identify a particular vehicle, the information can be retrieved for enforcement purposes.
LTA has previously used similar capabilities to investigate serious motoring offences, including illegal cross-border taxi services and the use of deregistered vehicles.
Ms Sun also highlighted that the existing legal framework allows the police to require information to be produced for criminal investigations under the Criminal Procedure Code.
What Can the Authorities Detect Using ERP 2?
The new system will also continue supporting enforcement against various motoring offences that are already monitored under the current ERP arrangement.
These include:
- Deregistered vehicles being driven on public roads.
- Off-peak cars being used outside their permitted operating hours.
- Vehicles that are not legally allowed on the road, including those under laid-up and keeping schemes.
The system’s ability to retrieve vehicle-specific information means that authorities can potentially establish where certain vehicles have travelled when investigating suspected offences.
This could provide investigators with another source of information when piecing together events or verifying the movements of vehicles involved in criminal cases.
Can Drivers Access Their Own ERP 2 Data?
Questions were also raised about whether motorists would be able to access photographs or video evidence to challenge enforcement actions.
Ms Sun said the ERP 2 on-board unit (OBU) was designed with strong security and encryption features, complying with international technical standards and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) regulations.
Data stored within the OBU cannot be directly accessed by motorists.
Information transmitted by the device can only be accessed by the Government and is kept in a secure environment.
This means motorists should not assume they can independently retrieve all the location information stored or transmitted through their devices.
Police Say Vehicle Data Will Not Be Kept Indefinitely
Another concern raised in Parliament was how long the authorities would retain vehicle-specific information and whether independent oversight or audit trails would be introduced.
MP Jackson Lam questioned the safeguards governing the retention and use of the data.
In response, Mr Goh said the police would only retain information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was obtained.
Where the information is used in criminal investigations or court proceedings, it may be retained for as long as necessary to complete the investigation or legal proceedings.
He reiterated that the Home Team has long been empowered by law to obtain information from available sources for its work.
The Government expects ERP 2 data to become another tool for preventing, detecting, deterring and solving crimes from January 2027.
Distance-Based ERP Charging Could Come Later
Separately, Ms Tin Pei Ling asked whether Singapore might eventually introduce distance-based ERP charges through the new satellite-based system.
Ms Sun confirmed that the possibility could be considered in a subsequent phase of ERP 2.
However, distance-based charging is not part of the current implementation plan.
For now, motorists can expect ERP 2 to serve its existing road-pricing functions while also becoming an additional source of information for government enforcement and criminal investigations.
The development marks a significant expansion in how Singapore’s vehicle-location infrastructure could be used, particularly as the authorities prepare to incorporate more digital information into their investigative capabilities.