Lockheed Will Hire 25 in New Irvine Office : Technology: The division plans to develop and market a credit card-like device for users to pay toll-road fees.

Lockheed Corp. said Tuesday that it plans to hire about 25 people for a new Orange County office of its advanced-transportation division that will help develop and market an automated highway toll-collection system.

Working with AT&T;, the company has developed an automated toll-collection system that could be used on proposed Orange County toll roads and other types of transportation, said Harry Voccola, Lockheed’s senior vice president for transportation systems and services. The system would allow the future traveler to have tolls from highways, buses, trains or even parking lots automatically deducted from a “smart card,” a tiny computer chip mounted on a credit card.

Lockheed has submitted a bid to the Orange County Transportation Corridor Agencies to provide toll-collection services along three proposed toll roads. The agencies board might award the bid this month.

The company hopes to lease space in the Irvine Spectrum area by year’s end, Voccola said.

If Lockheed wins the contract, he said, the company will immediately double or triple the size of its Orange County staff while gearing up to install the system.

Opening the Orange County office will not be contingent on winning the local toll-road contract, he said. Lockheed IMS now has contracts with more than 20 states and six toll authorities outside of California to provide transportation services. It also has a contract with the California Department of Transportation’s “smart highway” system to bring traffic and route information to motorists behind the wheel.

The motorist would use the “smart card” to pay toll-road fares automatically by inserting a card into a small transmitter in the car. In the toll booth, a second transmitter would communicate with the smart card and deduct the fare from the motorist’s running credit balance, Voccola said.