Visa offers to rent you a car directly from the driver’s seat

Renting a new sports car –or any car for that matter – should be “amusing and exciting, but the endless paperwork and laborious processes often spoil the experience” stated DocuSign Product Manager Ron Hirson. The demonstration put on by Visa and DocuSign shows how consumers can take a car out of the car park in the space of a few minutes after signing all the documents and paying electronically from the driver’s seat. Aim: accelerate the process of acquiring a new car for consumers by combining contracts and smart payments.
Built into the dashboard of a connected car prototype, the application lets the driver select his hire contract, insurance and related guarantees… It is all then confirmed by an e-signature on the touch screen after registering the buyer’s Visa card. All actions are recorded in the blockchain to keep a record. Additional services are also on offer, like videos on demand for instance, or the possibility of paying toll charges, a tankful of petrol and car park charges “automatically”

Last October, Echangeur reported on the service of Belgian telephone operator Base, in which the smartphone became the customer’s delivery address. The telephone operator lets consumers order products from their smartphone and receive them wherever they are: in a park, at the office, on the beach… This too is a new initiative designed to make life easier for consumers by offering them all the tools they need in situ for renting or buying a car and doing away with the paperwork.
The connected vehicles market is indeed in turmoil. It is predicted to represent 9 billion euros in volume and nearly 420 million connected cars on the road in 2020, with the Asian market predominating, according to Idate’s latest report. In Europe, the eCall regulation, which will come into force in 2018, should help democratize the connected car. This embedded system, which can automatically dial 112 in an emergency, should work in favour of these vehicles. So a vision of a car connected to services is indeed in motion. In this respect, Visa’s Executive Vice-President for Innovation and Strategic partnerships Jim McCarthy stated: “we see a future in which the car business goes far beyond petrol pumps and drive-in services, becoming a fully automated experience in the Internet of Things”. No wonder that insurance firms, manufacturers, AAFA and schemes like Visa are investing in the car, which is henceforth a connected object almost like any other. And obviously these players will have to make it a practical and desirable object. Tesla is the emblematic player in this area, whose customer would not buy the Model S for environmental