During the 2022 edition of the WWDC conference, Apple presented the new update of CarPlay, its iOS operating system dedicated to vehicle dashboards, expected by the end of the year. Whereas the current limits of CarPlay were feltthe Cupertino company would be working with several partners so that its users can pay for their gasoline without having to go to the counter of a service station.
Pay for your gas tank without taking out your credit card thanks to Apple CarPlay
According to information from Reuters, several American gas station chains are preparing for the arrival of this new feature. The Apple brand invites companies concerned by this new type of payment to develop their own applications so that drivers can pay for their refueling from their vehicle, without having to take out their credit card at the counter.
The HF Sinclair chain currently managing nearly 1,600 service stations in the United States has declared that it wants to use this technology to generalize payments at the pump. Reuters asked Donald Frieden, CEO of P97 Networks, managing the infrastructure for digital fuel payments. According to him, some oil companies and gas station groups are ready to make their applications work with CarPlay. ” It’s a huge market and consumers really want to eliminate friction during the checkout process. he says.
A feature that is added to the Apple CarPlay interface
In order to use this new feature, users will need to download the app developed by the fuel supplier where they want to refuel on their iPhone. They enter their payment information, and the synchronization is complete, it will be possible to activate a pump remotely and pay directly from the CarPlay interface of their vehicle.
This is not the first time that a company has tried to set up a system for purchasing fuel from its vehicle. In 2020, Amazon, ExxonMobil and Fiserv announced the launch of the same service during CES 2020. Since then, it has been possible to pay via Amazon Pay and Amazon Alexa (the e-commerce giant’s intelligent personal assistant) directly from your car.
In 2017, Generals Motors offered an equivalent system which had to be closed this year due to the departure of one of the company’s suppliers. Apple will have to take this element into account and thus find long-term partners in order to make this functionality relevant for its users.
The possibility of paying for a full tank of fuel directly from the operating system is in addition to the other features already available. With CarPlay, it is for example possible to locate available parking spaces or display charging stations for electric vehicles.
