Customers at 12 Starbucks outlets in the US state of California can now opt to have their beverage served in a reusable cup that they can return after use to a smart collection bin which scans the cup and then automatically enters them for a prize draw... More
Residents of the US state of California can now generate and store a digital version of their driving licence or state ID card on their Apple or Android smartphone and use it to verify their identity at selected Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport security checkpoints and confirm their age when making age-restricted purchases in selected stores... More
Transit agencies in the US would benefit from introducing open loop contactless fare payment systems but widespread adoption “has remained elusive” owing to challenges that both the US public transportation and payments sectors need to address, according to a report by the Washington DC-based Brookings Institution research group... More
The US state of California is planning to launch a digital driving licence that users will be able to store in a digital wallet on their smartphone, the state governor Gavin Newsom has revealed... More
Passengers arriving on international cruise ships at the US port of San Diego can now verify their identity on entry to the country using biometric face recognition technology rather than by presenting physical documents to immigration officers from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP)... More
Santa Maria Regional Transit (SMRT) in the US has launched a mobility app that enables passengers on the Californian city’s public transport network to make contactless payments for all available fare options and validate their ticket or pass by scanning a QR code at an on-board validator... More
Passengers disembarking from international cruise ships at the US port of New Orleans in Louisiana can now verify their identity on entry to the country using biometric face recognition technology rather than by presenting physical documents to immigration officers... More
Two US stores owned by retail giant Albertsons are trialling a self-checkout shopping trolley that enables customers to select and scan items while they shop, compare products and receive personalised recommendations via an on-cart screen, and pay for their purchases by inserting or tapping their payments card without visiting a checkout... More
Apple users can now download and store verifiable health records including their Covid-19 vaccination status and test results in the Health app on their iPhone and will soon be able to add a card proving their vaccination status in Apple Wallet... More
California has released the code for both the front end and middle tier of its Digital Covid-19 Vaccine Record into the public domain to enable other US states to deploy their own digital vaccination record systems more quickly... More
Customers purchasing wine from the Boisset Collection can now authenticate their purchase and gain access to tasting notes, information about the wine’s origin, stories and videos by tapping an NFC tag embedded in the bottle’s label with their smartphone... More
Passengers using Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) buses are the first in the state of California, USA, to be able to pay their fares with their bank card or payment-enabled mobile device using a fare-capped open loop contactless ticketing system... More
Diners at the Pizzahacker restaurant in Mill Valley, California, can now use a self-serve feature to place their order on their mobile device by scanning a QR code and selecting what they want to eat and drink on the restaurant’s mobile-enabled ordering page... More
Customers of US coffee chain Dunkin’ in California will soon be able to walk into a store, pick up a coffee and pay for it from their mobile phone without having to pre-order, interact with staff, wait to pay at a checkout or scan goods at a kiosk... More
“Globally, Visa now has more than 500 active transit projects and has helped a number of cities launch tap to pay solutions over the course of the pandemic,” the payments network has revealed... More
Amazon has unveiled Dash Cart, a smart shopping trolley that automatically tracks the items shoppers place in their trolley as they shop — and then lets them simply exit the store when they have completed their shopping, with no need to visit a physical checkout... More
Caltrain launches new Caltrain mobile ticketing app — Caltrain — “On February 10, Caltrain will launch Caltrain Mobile, the rail agency’s official mobile ticketing application that allows riders to purchase and activate tickets from their smart phone devices… The app offers One-Way, Day Pass and Zone Upgrade digital tickets for adults and passengers who qualify for discounted fare.”
Ting introduces ‘Skip the Slip’ legislation to phase-out paper receipts in California — Assemblymember Phil Ting — “Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) today introduced AB 161, Skip the Slip legislation that makes electronic receipts the default practice when making a purchase. Businesses in the state would have to provide customers e-receipts by 2022, unless a hard copy is specifically requested… Committee hearings are expected to begin in the spring.”
UnionPay QR code payment debuts in North America — UnionPay International — “UnionPay International announced today that it has partnered with Bank of China (Canada) in enabling all the stores of Foodymart in Canada to accept UnionPay QR code payment… Some food and beverage merchants in California, the US, have recently started accepting UnionPay QR code payment too… It is expected that the number of merchants accepting UnionPay QR code payment in North America will reach 5,000 within this year.”
Cali Group demonstrates face based loyalty program pilot in its restaurant operating division — Cali Group — “The kiosks use NEC’s NeoFace facial recognition software to identify registered customers and pull up their loyalty accounts and order preferences… Also in 2018, the platform will be used to allow customers to pay using their faces.”