Visa is extending its Visa Token Service platform to auto manufacturers to enable in-vehicle payment experiences through Visa Checkout. The company has partnered with Honda and car parking solutions provider ParkWhiz to demonstrate fuel and parking proof-of-concept solutions at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.
“The fuel app detects when the car is low on fuel and navigates the driver to nearby gas stations,” Visa says. “Once parked next to the pump, the app knows the exact amount of gas needed to fill the tank and can calculate the cost to fill up. The driver can also purchase store items with full integration of discounts and loyalty or rewards programs.
“Designed in partnership with ParkWhiz for off-street parking spots, the parking app helps a driver pay only for the time used and helps avoid under- and over-paying. Once a parking session is ended, the elapsed time and amount paid are shown on the car’s dashboard, requiring the driver to simply press a button to complete the transaction.”
“Developed by Honda Developer Studio and fully integrated into Honda’s head unit, the fuel and parking proof-of-concepts are designed to bring greater simplicity and convenience to services and tasks consumers do every day,” Visa adds. “Both apps showcase Visa Token Service and feature Visa Checkout, Visa’s online payment service offering simple, one-touch payments.”
The companies expect to test the fuel app concept in northern California and the parking app concept in New York, both over a three month period in the spring.
“The notion of transforming a car into a platform for payments is not as far off as some may think and we have made a great deal of progress since first introducing the idea one year ago,” says Jim McCarthy, executive vice president of innovation and strategic partnerships at Visa. “Working with Honda to test these prototypes gets us another step closer toward commercial reality.”
Visa demonstrated a proof-of-concept car system that let drivers order and pay for pizza from Pizza Hut inside their vehicle at Mobile World Congress 2015.
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