Hyundai’s In-Car Mobile Payment Trials Add Businesses
Mobile payments have come a long way, but recent tests from companies like Hyundai have advanced an even more novel notion. Now, mobile payments are sufficiently mobile that you can drive around in them, or at least, in the car that features them. Hyundai’s own testing on this front has gone quite well so far, reports note, as a partnership with Xevo is poised to expand and add new businesses—Applebee’s, Chevron, ParkWhiz, and Texaco—to the roster.
With these new businesses in place, Hyundai drivers will have even less reason to get out of the car. They’ll effectively be able to order and buy food for pickup, get gas on the ride home, and even pay for parking when they get there.
The tests route the payments interface through the Android Auto smartphone interface, presenting the necessary user responses through a smartphone. Future testing, meanwhile, is likely to more directly involve Hyundai’s own Blue Link infotainment system, providing users with a necessary interface through that. Hyundai is also actively working on a tool called “Hyundai Mobile Wallet”, which offers secure storage of payment credentials.
There’s no word as yet as to when the system goes completely in-car through Blue Link, let alone when it will actually be available for end users, as right now Hyundai’s calling the whole thing a “proof of concept” for the time being. It had better hurry, however, or it’s going to end up beaten to the market by a whole bunch of new options from Ford, Chevrolet, and even Jaguar, all of whom are developing at least some breed of in-car mobile payments technology.
Imagine your car automatically paying tolls, or picking up the tab for gas so all a driver need do is get out long enough to pump. For those who live in states with hot summers and / or cold winters, that could be the greatest news they’ll hear all day. Better yet, making mobile order-ahead as easy as a few touchscreen presses could put drive-thru windows on some of the most upscale restaurants as people pick up everything from burgers to porterhouse on the way home.
Such a system could revolutionize the way we live, and since it’s under development on several fronts at once, we’ll likely see how it all boils down sooner rather than later.