Can RFID Track Emergency Vehicles?

Is there a radio frequency identification system available that would allow such vehicles to be tracked while traveling in special lanes throughout a city?

—Name withheld

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To my knowledge, there is no system currently on the market that was designed specifically for tracking emergency vehicles. RFID is a relatively short-range technology. Passive tags (meaning, no battery) have a maximum read range of 10 meters (33 feet) or so, though some systems can achieve more. And active (battery-powered) tags have a read range of 100 meters (328 feet) or so, though again, some have longer ranges. This means you would need to place RFID readers every few blocks to track emergency vehicles. As such, it would seem that GPS would be far less expensive than an RFID system—and more accurate—for this particular application.

—Mark Roberti, Editor, RFID Journal