Carma Technology Completes Nation’s Largest Smartphone-Based RUC Pilot

Carma and Texas regional partners demonstrate smartphone-based road usage charging at unprecedented national scale.

Carma Technology has completed the nation’s largest road usage charge (RUC) pilot, demonstrating that smartphone-based systems can support policy-grade mileage reporting at unprecedented scale—without in-vehicle hardware.

Delivered using Carma’s smartphone-first platform, the pilot enrolled more than 41,000 participants and captured over 64 million miles of real-world driving, exceeding the combined scale of all prior U.S. RUC pilots in the United States. The effort showed that large-scale participation, operational flexibility, and reliable mileage data collection can be achieved simultaneously using devices people already own.

Independent evaluation confirmed the pilot’s relevance for future statewide and multi-state RUC planning, particularly when compared with earlier approaches that relied on proprietary hardware, manual activation, or vehicle pairing requirements. The scale of the program allowed agencies to evaluate real-world performance across sustained participation, administrative workflows, and cost dynamics.

Because the platform is cloud-based and hardware-free, agencies were able to adjust rules, corridors, and pricing structures quickly—supporting applications such as managed lanes, tolling interoperability, and geographically specific policy design. The evaluation also showed that per-user administrative costs decline sharply at higher enrollment levels, a key requirement for sustainable statewide programs.

Together, the results provide strong evidence that smartphone-based RUC systems can support mileage-based transportation funding while avoiding the cost, friction, and equity challenges associated with dedicated in-vehicle devices.

Read the full press release on Business Wire:
👉 https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260130156496/en/