While payment systems have focused on mobile phones recently, auto disruption or a new taste in payment services seems to on the way.
Hyundai built an in-car payment system that will debut in its next all-electric Ioniq 5 crossover, allowing drivers to discover and pay for EV charging, food, and parking – the latest example of automakers coming up with new ways to generate cash and provide customers with amenities normally associated with smartphones, TechCrunch has the story.
The payments system will start with Dominoes, ParkWhiz, and Chargehub when the car arrives in North America in fall 2021, according to the business. Several new features were revealed during the Ioniq 5’s North American premiere, including an in-car payment system.
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The payments feature works through Bluelink, Hyundai’s branded connected car system that gives users control over various vehicle functions and services. Bluelink, which requires a subscription, is offered in three different packages that cover areas such as vehicle maintenance and alerts, remote climate control and unlocking and locking as well as destination search. Bluelink also can be linked to a user’s Google Assistant feature on their smartphone to send information to their Hyundai vehicle.
The in-car payments system will eventually expand to include other companies that fall into the charging, food and coffee on-the-go and parking categories. A company spokesperson said Hyundai will continue to add new merchants regularly via the Xevo Marketplace platform.
The Ioniq 5 is the company’s first dedicated battery-electric vehicle built on the new Electric-Global Modular Platform, or E-GMP platform. This platform is shared with Kia and is the underlying foundation of the new EV6.
If the Ioniq name sounds familiar, it’s because it already exists. In 2016, Hyundai introduced the Ioniq, a hatchback that came in hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric versions. The Korean automaker is using that vehicle as the jumping off point for its new EV brand.
All of the vehicles under the Ioniq brand will have the E-GMP platform. The Ioniq 5 is based on Hyundai’s Concept 45, a monocoque-style body crossover that the company unveiled in 2019 at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt. Designers of the Concept 45 leaned on some of the lines and characteristics from Hyundai’s first concept, the 1974 Pony Coupe. The “45” name comes, in part, from the 45-degree angles at the front and rear of the vehicle.
The trial, if successful, will mean a wider adoption by the auto industry, where the technology will likely going to be expanded to cover many other areas of payment.
