Mercedes rolls out in-car payments

If Janis Joplin were a young singer today, the opening to her classic Mercedes-Benz hit might go something like this: "Oh Lord, I want to buy things from my Mercedes-Benz." The auto giant just revealed it is collaborating with Mastercard so Mercedes-Benz drivers can initiate online payments using an in-car fingerprint sensor.

Mercedes-Benz already has a similar collaboration with Visa. Both partnerships leverage the two card networks' secure, card-on-file commerce technologies. The new scheme is live in Germany, where Mercedes drivers can make secure digital payments at several thousand service stations throughout the country.

After refueling, the driver will see on a dashboard screen the amount of fuel purchased and the invoice amount, which is also sent to the customer by email. Franz Reiner, chairman of the board at Mercedes-Benz Mobility, said in a statement that plans are in the works for in-car fingerprint-initiated payments to be extended to other vehicle-related services and to other European markets.

In-car payments gaining

In-vehicle payments in theory can allow drivers to order and pay for just about anything from their automobiles. Several technologies are leveraged to support these payments, including QR codes, RFID, apps, e-wallets, and card-on-file commerce platforms.

ResearchAndMarkets estimated the global in-vehicle services market was $3.47 billion in 2022, and it is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 12.5 percent. North America is the largest market for in-car payment services, the market research firm said.

Grand View Research offers an even more optimistic view of the market. The San Francisco-based research firm valued the North American market, alone, at $4.23 billion in 2021, and put its CAGR at 13 percent through 2030. Both research firms attribute the growth to consumer demand for contactless shopping and to technology advances.

“Advances in the Internet of things (IoT) technology and the efforts being pursued aggressively by various automakers to integrate new, advance infotainment solutions in their vehicle models are expected to drive the growth of the market,” Grand View wrote in a recent report.

The announcement from Mercedes-Benz came on the heals of news that automaker Hyundai is bringing in-car payments to American drivers with the introduction of Hyundai Pay. Like Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai is offering drivers the ability to find and pay for items using a touchscreen along with securely stored credit card information. Initially, however, they will only be able to locate and pay for parking at about 6,000 U.S. locations.

Hyundai said the new service addresses a serious pain point for Americans: finding parking. According to a recent survey by Parkopedia, Hyundai’s partner in the new parking service, 94 percent of American drivers report facing difficulties locating parking when needed; nearly one in five (18 percent) reported encountering problems finding parking spaces on every parking search. Hyundai Pay is available with the all-new 2024 Hyundai Kona.

Whether you want to upgrade your POS offerings, find a payment gateway partner, bone up on fintech regs or PCI requirements, find an upcoming trade show, read about faster payments, or discover the latest innovations in merchant acquiring, The Green Sheet is the resource for you. Since 1983, we've helped empower and connect payments professionals, starting with the merchant level salespeople who bring tailored payment acceptance and digital commerce tools, along with a host of other business services to merchants across the globe. The Green Sheet Inc. is also a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals.

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