A real-world demonstration of the virtual tolling concept is planned to take place in Lisbon beginning in late 2004. Also under ESA funding, the Lisbon project is being conducted by the Portuguese company Skysoft in close co- operation with the Portuguese motorway authority. Last April, the European Commission published a proposal that all vehi- cles should pay road tolls electronically, with full implementation foreseen for 2010. Under the proposal, all vehicles would carry a "black box" and would be tracked by satellites relaying information on the distance traveled by the vehicle, the class of road traveled, and the time at which the journey was made. The research, commissioned by ESA on behalf of the European Union (EU), aims to evaluate the feasibility of a standard tolling approach through- out Europe. The study will look at the effects of such a system on Europe's road infrastructure as well as associated technology impacts. Potential benefits of a harmonized road tolling system, according to the ESA, would be fairer toll and insurance fee implementation by charging on a "pay for use" basis, lower road building and maintenance costs as the need for physical infrastructure is reduced, and also lessened road congestion. Germany recently received EU approval to implement a new tolling system for com- mercial vehicles. The system currently being tested uses the U.S.-operated GPS technology. The German government hopes to raise 650 million euros a year through the new charges. EU-wide satellite-assisted tolling would make use of Galileo, Europe's planned satellite navigation system. Galileo is a joint initiative between the European Commission and ESA to develop a global navigation system, sched- uled to be operational by 2008. The system will have a constellation of 30 satellites revolving in three cir- cular medium earth orbits, approximately 24,000kn above the earth. This will create a network covering the entire globe, relayed at ground level by stations monitoring the satellites and the quality of their si