Torque of the Town

Have you been in a situation when your air conditioner breaks down at the height of the hot season? How often have you run out food because you did not replenish your refrigerator in time? Now imagine if your air conditioner could send messages to the after-sales agency to book a servicing appointment or your refrigerator could automatically replenish food by placing orders at the online grocer. As seen at the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show (CES), companies around the world are in the race to solve these everyday issues through smart connected devices or Internet of Things (IoT).

If we transplant this concept from the home and into an automobile, we can start to understand the many benefits of incorporating innovations into a car. In-vehicle technology has evolved tremendously – from real-time analysis of fuel efficiency to displaying current traffic information and even voice activation for dashboard features. All of these innovations have helped enhance the driving experience and the next stage of the ‘connected car’ will be to turn automobiles into seamless payment platforms capable of making purchases on the move.

In the future, a driver could upload his or her payment credentials onto an app linked with the car’s dashboard. When the car runs low on fuel, the driver is directed to the nearest station. During the refueling process, the app automatically calculates the cost of fuel and can even access the list of products at the station’s convenience store.

Connected cars would also be able to communicate with smart parking meters. The meter can detect the exact time a car arrives at the parking spot and displays the amount to be paid once the driver leaves the spot. This helps to eliminate the under usage or over payment of parking, which is one of the biggest frustrations for drivers.

However, none of this would be possible without a secure way for the connected car to transfer secure transaction information during payment. This is where the Visa Token Service (VTS) comes in. VTS replaces sensitive personal information such as the 16-digit account number with a digital token. This token is shared across platforms during the transaction, like the one we see in the connected car example, without revealing any account detail.      

Payments made inside a car is a natural extension to the many innovations we are seeing in payments and the automobile industry, and Visa’s collaboration with Honda is an example of combining the best of both. Ultimately, the winner will be the consumer who will enjoy greater convenience and a superior payment experience – all in the comfort of their car.