Stopping the Development of RUC Warehouse

Today we are announcing that we are stopping all work on RUC Warehouse. While the project has been a major part of our development cycle over the last year, we will not be bringing the platform to market.

The decision comes down to the math and the high risk of getting it wrong for the customer. Road User Charges in New Zealand are not one size fits all. With an expected 28 different vehicle classes and various weight bands, the rates are highly specific. On top of that, these rates can change at any time without much warning.

Our engineering team successfully built a multivariate heuristic pricing model to manage this. The algorithm was designed to automate discount structures and handle the bulk-buying logic. However, even with a high-performing engine, the external variables are too unstable. If the government changes a rate for a specific heavy vehicle class overnight, our "Warehouse" pricing could instantly become more expensive than the standard rate.

"We aren't going to launch a platform where we can't guarantee the win for the user," says Adam Johnston, CEO. "The reality is that pricing bundles are too complicated to manage across so many different vehicle types. We don't want a situation where a driver buys a pack thinking they are saving money, only for a rate shift or a class mismatch to make it a bad deal. The risk of not offering true discounts is just too high."

Briyarne, our CTO, explains that the maintenance required to keep the pricing engine accurate was becoming a liability. "We proved we could build the tech, but keeping it synced with the variable nature of NZTA rates is expected to be a moving target. Rather than pushing a product that might lead to confusion or incorrect filings, we are pulling the plug and moving that energy into our core platforms."

The RUC Warehouse project was a great test of our systems, but we are prioritizing clear, direct compliance through RUC Pass and RUC Hub instead.