The automotive sector, a new El Dorado for payment players?
Starting in spring 2022, the partnership between Visa and Mercedes-Benz will allow drivers to pay for goods and services using their fingerprint in their cars.
The fact
Mercedes drivers in the UK and Germany will soon be able to authorize payment for goods and services using a fingerprint sensor located on the dashboard of their vehicle.
This new global technological partnership between Daimler Mobility and Visa will therefore enable Daimler to offer “native” on-board payments (no need for a smartphone or pin code) in its high-end vehicles from the spring of 2022.
Drivers will be able to perform Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) compliant transactions directly from the head unit and infotainment center MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience) of their car using the Mercedes Pay payment platform.
As a reminder Mercedes Pay is a component of Daimler’s mobility and digitization strategy and a business segment of Daimler Mobility.
Decoding
If the last CES 2022, marked a plethora of partnerships between OEMs and technology giants such as Stellantis with Amazon , passing by Volvo with Google Android or Qualcomm with General Motors…, some manufacturers do not want to leave the hand to these new entrants in the creation of their connected vehicle of tomorrow.
Like BMW and Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz has created its own ‘Mercedes-Benz Electric Software’ hub as part of its “Digital first” in Sindelfingen near Stuttgart dedicated to merging the expertise of the electrical ecosystem (motors, charging) and ‘software’.
In the same way that BMW has set up its BMW Operating System and Volkswagen is preparing its VW.OS, the Daimler group intends to develop and develop its own future system MB.OS (Mercedes-Benz Operating System – MBOS).
This is the logical continuation of a digital transformation inaugurated at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in 2021, Mercedes-Benz launched its MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience) Hyperscreen, i.e. a haptic screen integrating a service platform, boosted with the artificial intelligence of its own OS (Mercedes-Benz Operating System – MBOS). Thanks to artificial intelligence, the display and the operating system adapt completely to the user and make personalized and geo-contextualized suggestions. For example, it is possible to ask ‘Hey Mercedes’, what is the name of the restaurant on the left? and the information appears on the respective screen. Thus the integration of a biometric payment method with Visa in order to finalize the reservation allows Mercedes-Benz to be the guarantor of the entire service chain.
Mastering its own OS for Daimler is an even more strategic element in the world of luxury, where customers expect brands to provide exclusive and quality services. The deployment of MB.OS on board its vehicles is planned for 2024. The group wants to connect all its cars with its own cloud and the world of the Internet of Things (IoT).
The long-term ambition is to generate more than 6b vc c 0% added value in software, associated cloud-based services and connectivity.
Over the next 3 years, the number of connected cars worldwide is expected to reach over 352 million and the total volume of in-vehicle payments is expected to reach around $86 billion by 2025. vehicles will be autonomous and immersive with augmented reality which will simplify access to the service and geocontextualized offer!
