ANKARA (AA) – GÖKSEL YILDIRIM – An electronic fare collection system developed by Turkish engineers is used by 16 million people in 12 countries in addition to Turkey.

Salih Güçbilmez, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of ASİS Elektronik ve Bilişim Sistemleri AŞ, launched an initiative on electronic fare collection systems in 2007 after his experience in a long queue for receipts in the rain while trying to cross from Beşiktaş to Üsküdar by ferry.

The company, which started to appear in the sector with its own software, developed over the years and became the market leader in Turkey.

Hakan Özyürek, Member of the Board of Directors of ASİS Elektronik, told AA correspondent that the company, which was established on a micro-business basis and started operating in a Turkish market dominated by other players, has now become the market leader in the country in fee collection and has expanded abroad.

Stating that they created the ASİS CT-City Technologies brand by adding smart city solutions to fare collection, Özyürek said that they have developed a product tree ranging from environmental problems to passenger information, cleaning, security and analysis.

Özyürek informed that fare collection systems are in operation in 17 metropolitan cities, 22 cities and 65 regions in Turkey, and that their software and hardware are used in public transportation systems and stadium toll booths in Bulgaria, Iraq, Kosovo, India, Rwanda, Greece, Pakistan, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Turkmenistan, Tanzania and Azerbaijan.

Hakan Özyürek stated that 16 million people in different parts of the world already use electronic toll collection systems.

– New defense solutions on the way

Explaining that they added the defence industry to their fields of activity with the aim of reducing costs and localization, Özyürek said that the ASİSGUARD brand emerged. Özyürek said that with the help of artificial intelligence and big data technologies, they have developed national system solutions, some of which are the first in Turkey, in the fields of Military Vehicle Electronics Systems, Rotary Wing Armed Drone Systems, Electro Optical Imaging and Border Security Systems.

Özyürek pointed out that they have made the Armed Drone System Songar available to the Turkish Armed Forces, and said that they will soon share new products for the defence industry with the public.

Stating that they expanded their field of activity in the field of cyber security by acquiring a majority stake in ZEMANA, Özyürek said that they marketed online security solutions developed against cyber attacks and identity theft to 135 countries, primarily the United States and the European Union, and provided online security services to end users and corporate companies.

Pointing out that they also aim to enter a new field with the Financial Technologies company, Özyürek said that they aim to enable the use of cards in Electronic Fee Collection Systems in all payment transactions, to accept all bank cards in Electronic Fee Collection Systems, and to use the cards in Electronic Fee Collection Systems.