Cash, check or car? Hyundai to offer screen-based payment for purchases
Hyundai said it plans to enable in-car, screen-based payment for purchases in its connected vehicles equipped with Blue Link, starting with the ability to buy coffee, fuel, and parking. Eventually, takeout food orders and EV charging could be added.
The feature is not active yet; a Hyundai spokesman told Car and Driver it is “just a proof of concept at this point” and probably won’t go live until 2019 or 2020.
Xevo, a software company specializing in connected cars, is developing the infotainment-screen-based purchasing system for Hyundai, as well as a Hyundai Wallet payment platform that will store customers’ credit-card or PayPal information. Xevo built a merchant-to-driver commerce platform it calls Xevo Market, which it launched in 2017.
The platform can already be found in General Motors vehicles under the name Marketplace. GM announced in December it had enabled the Marketplace feature through an over-the-air update in about two million vehicles with 4G LTE connectivity, allowing car owners of 2017 and newer models to order items through the touchscreen on their dashboards.
In April, GM launched a pilot service with Shell for in-car gas purchasing for Chevrolet vehicles in Detroit, Houston, and Seattle, with plans to roll out the service to more than 14,000 locations this summer.
While still clearly in its early stages, in-car shopping is seen as a new and largely untapped revenue stream for automakers, capitalizing on vehicles’ connectivity and the consumer data collected therein. According to AAA statistics, the average U.S. car owner spends 46 minutes per day behind the wheel. If self-driving cars are added to the equation, the future potential for captive consumer advertising and shopping is obvious.
“Once our owners experience placing a to-go order using their vehicle’s touchscreen and seamlessly routing to the location, we know they’re going to love it,” Manish Mehrotra, director of digital business planning and connected operations for Hyundai Motor America, said in a release. “Offering easy-to-use payment options as part of navigation will simplify the driving experience and maximize time spent with eyes on the road.”
By David Muller