12 Mar 2013

EROAD considers overseas opportunities

7:57 am on 12 March 2013

Transport technology firm EROAD is considering overseas opportunities in the US and Australia.

The 13-year-old company makes its money by offering electronic road user charging for transport firms, and collects about a fifth of all heavy transport road user charges in New Zealand.

EROAD chief executive Steven Newman said getting to commercialise the product took some time, requiring regulatory approval and development of sophisticated software.

He said the company spent about $12 million developing the product before it got its first customer.

Mr Newman said EROAD also had to get approval from the Ministry of Transport and New Zealand Transport Association in order to be listed on the Government registry so it can buy licences for its customers.

He said the company needed to prove that the distance recorder was accurate and could not be tampered with.

EROAD is now considering opportunities overseas, including a pilot scheme in Oregon in the US that should be operating before the end of the year, as well considering projects in Australia and other part of the USA.

More and more countries are considering implementing road user charges to pay for maintenance and build roads, and Mr Newman said EROAD is also lobbying overseas authorities for its introduction.

Mr Newman is planning to hire 60 people over the next six months, but requires senior people to deal with complex issues like taxes.

He said a share float is a possibility in the future, perhaps in a couple of years, when it's had a chance to prove its viability internationally.

Mr Newman is a former founder of navigation device marker Navman and said he would prefer that EROAD remained in local hands rather than seeing it sold overseas as Navman was.

Mr Newman is aiming to build a half a billion dollar business, and hopes to be making more than $100 million in the next three to four years.