Hyundai adds Applebee's, Chevron and ParkWhiz to in-car payment trial
Buy dinner, get gas and pay for parking from your Hyundai's Blue Link infotainment system.
Ordering dinner on your way home could be as easy as tapping on your car's touchscreen.
If you're already used to paying by simply swiping or scanning your phone, you'll be interested to hear about Hyundai's plans for in-car payment services. The automaker already announced a partnership with Xevo to facilitate payments through the car's infotainment system, and now is making it possible to do so at Applebee's To Go, Chevron and Texaco gas stations and through the ParkWhiz parking system.
The idea is for payments to take place through the Hyundai Blue Link system so that the driver doesn't have to get his or her wallet out at all. For instance, drivers could pull up to a Chevron or Texaco gas station and pre-pay at the pump simply by using the infotainment screen. On the way home, a driver could pick some Applebee's To Go menu items, follow navigation directions to the restaurant and pick up the order. And the ParkWhiz integration would allow a driver to find a free parking spot, pay for it in advance and then simply navigate to it.
Hyundai's demonstration of the technology shows the in-car payment apps operating through the Android Auto smartphone interface, but it's reasonable to expect the automaker would integrate it directly into its Blue Link infotainment systems when the feature is ready for prime-time. There's no word yet on when it might launch for regular customers, and Hyundai describes the Xevo payment feature as a "proof of concept" for now.
Hyundai will work with Xevo to develop a feature called Hyundai Mobile Wallet, which will securely store the user's payment info. In its home market of South Korea, Hyundai Motor Group already operates a credit card with smartphone-based payment options, so there's some precedent already within the automaker for this type of mobile-payment tech.
Other companies are also experimenting with in-car payments. The new FordPass FordPay system will let Ford drivers pay for parking and vehicle servicing through their cars, while both Chevrolet and Jaguar now have programs to let drivers pay for Shell gas from within their cars.