High technology motoring is almost upon us. Some new developments are already being rolled out. Good or bad, others are set to hit us soon.

Number plate reading equipment will shortly be introduced to 23 police forces across England and Wales following successful trials in nine areas.

And Transport Secretary Alistair Darling has signalled that satellite tracking technology could be used to clock car journeys, with drivers subsequently billed for their travel.

These are just two of the new high tech solutions to modern motoring maladies reaching down to the average motorist.

Many top-of-the-range cars come with helpful satellite navigation systems and motorists can already buy satellite-driven speed detectors that warn of normal speed limits on the road ahead as well as warning where traffic cameras are mounted.

These systems can be connected to the in-car navigation systems or to portable Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receivers. The warnings and advice to the driver is given by audible voice announcements.

But this home-fitted technology may soon be passé as trials, started last month in Leeds, researches into how drivers behave when their speed is controlled.

The trials are examining how people's driving changes when they drive specially modified vehicles which detect and keep the vehicle within the speed limit for the road they are on.

GPS technology tells the car where it is and what the speed limit is. Each time the speed limit changes the driver is notified of the change, and the new limit is set. The car will alert the driver when it reaches the limit by vibrating the accelerator pedal. The car will then stay at that speed unless the driver opts out of the system, brakes or stops accelerating.

What are the high tech benefits?

The results of the pilot scheme of the number plate reading trials showed that the nine areas using the technology made ten times more arrests than the national average and the technology will now be rolled out across 23 forces in England and Wales.

The automatic number plate recognition system scans number plates and matches them against information in databases. It can check up to 3,000 number plates an hour on vehicles travelling up to 100mph and allows the police to identify vehicles such as stolen cars or those involved in crime.

Nine police forces trialled the system over six months and it helped them to seize more than £100,000 in illegal drugs and recover some 300 stolen vehicles. The evidence supports police experience of strong links between road traffic offences and more serious crime.

This week, Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling, will hold a seminar with academics, motoring organisations and others to debate the practical issues for using satellite tracking technology to monitor and charge for journeys.

The idea being suggested will mean commuters, school-run parents and motorway users being hit hard by the variable system, where charges would be highest for rush-hour travel and for using the most congested roads.

However, Mr Darling said that whatever the complexities of such a system, doing nothing, or simply building more roads, were not realistic options.

"You can't build yourself out of the problem that we face,” Darling said, “We have a choice in the next 25 to 30 years: either we build more and more motorways - astronomically expensive, environmentally damaging, and I doubt if we could actually do it - or we take a radically different look at how we manage the system.”

"I am convinced that unless we look at the possibility of road pricing, then future generations will not forgive us."