For many drivers, memories of fumbling for change at parking meters or navigating awkward payment booths are all too familiar. Thankfully, the rise of digital payment technologies has revolutionized these everyday hassles. Now, with just a tap on your car’s infotainment screen, you can seamlessly manage parking reservations and payments.
But what if your in-car experience could become even more integrated and convenient?
Enter Mercedes Pay, an innovative in-car e-commerce platform designed to simplify your interactions with Mercedes-Benz services and beyond. This platform allows vehicle owners to effortlessly purchase Mercedes-Benz products and services directly from their car. Taking convenience and security a step further, Mercedes pay has joined forces with Mastercard to introduce native in-car payments, making transactions smoother and more secure than ever before.
Initially launching at 3,600 service stations across Germany, this groundbreaking feature enables drivers to pay for fuel using a fingerprint sensor within their vehicle. This eliminates the need to juggle PIN entries at the pump or fumble with mobile authentication. For the first time, Mercedes pay brings fully integrated in-car payments to the point of sale, effectively transforming your dashboard into a secure and convenient payment hub.
To delve deeper into the evolution of Mercedes pay, the challenges overcome, and the exciting future of in-car payments, Mastercard Newsroom spoke with Nico Kersten, CEO of Mercedes pay.
The Digital Acceleration and the Evolution of Mercedes Pay
Mastercard Newsroom: Mercedes pay+ was launched in 2018. How has the rapid pace of digitalization, particularly amplified during the pandemic, influenced its development?
Kersten: The automotive landscape has undergone a significant transformation in the last decade. Vehicles themselves, along with their software and hardware, have reached new levels of sophistication. The same evolution is true for payment systems. When I started at Mercedes-Benz two decades ago, the concept of a car as a payment device was still in its infancy. However, the automotive industry’s business model is expanding beyond just selling and maintaining vehicles. Through our comprehensive Mercedes-Benz ecosystem, we aim to simplify our customers’ lives by integrating all aspects related to their car. Digitalization unlocks completely new possibilities. For instance, we offer seamless access to everyday services like charging, parking, and fueling through connectivity with various third-party providers. The recent advancements in both automotive technology and fintech have enabled us to elevate the in-car payment experience to a new level of convenience and security with Mercedes pay.
Overcoming Authentication Challenges with Biometric Security
Mastercard Newsroom: What challenges did Mercedes-Benz encounter in ensuring secure authentication for payments and other digital services within the vehicle?
Kersten: Mercedes-Benz is synonymous with safety, and this principle extends to our payment solutions. With Mercedes pay, we prioritize the secure storage of card data and adhere to all stringent regulations concerning payment authentication. Europe, in particular, has robust customer authentication rules designed to protect consumers, but these regulations aren’t always optimized for user experience. This was the core challenge we aimed to address. Our collaboration with Mastercard has been instrumental in streamlining the authentication process. Through this partnership, we’ve successfully introduced biometric authentication within the car, making secure payments easier and more user-friendly than ever with Mercedes pay.
The Future of Frictionless Payments: Embracing In-Car Digital Transactions
Mastercard Newsroom: We’ve discussed the seamless experience of paying directly from your car. How quickly do you anticipate drivers will embrace digital in-car payments like Mercedes pay in their daily routines?
Kersten: I am very optimistic about the adoption rate. We are continuously expanding our customer offerings with valuable and intuitive services that will quickly become integral to their daily lives. Just last month in the Netherlands, as I entered a parking lot, a prompt appeared on my dashboard screen: “Do you want to pay for parking?” It was truly that effortless. The more people experience this level of convenience with Mercedes pay, the more they will appreciate and rely on it.
Mastercard Newsroom: Was there a sensor in the parking lot that enabled this automatic connection and payment prompt?
Kersten: Exactly. We are in the era of connected vehicles. Mercedes pay leverages this connectivity to know the precise geoposition of the vehicle, allowing us to offer location-based services like on-street parking payments seamlessly.
In-Car Innovation for the Autonomous Future
Mastercard Newsroom: Part of the vision for self-driving cars is to transform the vehicle into a mobile space for shopping, work, and entertainment. How is Mercedes pay innovating to cater to this future?
Kersten: Self-driving vehicles will undoubtedly expand the possibilities for drivers. However, even in our latest vehicles today, all passengers have integrated tablets, and we are already facilitating in-car entertainment like movies and games. As technology advances, we have a wealth of ideas about how drivers and passengers will want to utilize their time in the car. At Mercedes pay, we are dedicated to continually providing our customers with the most valuable asset: their time. By streamlining everyday tasks and offering seamless in-car payment solutions, we aim to enhance their overall driving experience and free up their time for what matters most.
