Daimler Mobility, Visa Partner to Enable In-Car Payments With Fingerprint Sensors

From spring 2022 onwards, Mercedes-Benz customers in the U.K. and Germany will be able to pay for goods and services by using their fingerprint in the car.

This ability to offer “native” in-car payments will come as a result of a new global technology partnership between Daimler Mobility — which together with Mercedes-Benz AG and Daimler Truck AG is one of the three business divisions of Daimler AG — and Visa. Other European markets are to follow.

Payments Through The Car’s Head Unit

“We are excited to bring to life a native solution for in-car payments for the first time, together with our partner Daimler Mobility,” Antony Cahill, deputy CEO and head of European markets at Visa in Europe, said in a press release.

Entering passwords or relying on mobile devices for payment authentication may soon be a thing of the past as the vehicle itself becomes a biometrically enabled payments device, thanks to Visa’s Delegated Authentication technology, the two companies said. Using the fingerprint sensor, purchases can then be made directly through the car’s head unit, Mercedes-Benz User Experience (MBUX).

Daimler Mobility’s global payment platform, called “Mercedes pay,” enables customers to buy goods and services directly in their car, including Mercedes me services, as well as for other use cases such as fueling and parking.

Secure, Friendly Two-Factor Authentication

“Mercedes pay is our competence (center) for in-car payment, through which we offer our customers worldwide digital services seamlessly integrated within the Mercedes-Benz ecosystem,” Daimler Mobility CEO Franz Reiner said in the press release. “In partnership with Visa, Daimler aims to offer native in-car payments that meet the requirements of two-factor authentication in a secure and user-friendly way.”

The move follows an announcement in September that J.P. Morgan struck a deal with German automaker Volkswagen to buy roughly 75% of its Volkswagen Payments S.A.

J.P. Morgan CEO of Merchant Services Max Neukirchen told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster that the car is “becoming a device” connecting us to payments, to a broad range of services tied to maintaining the vehicle itself and even, eventually, to banking.

Read more: Beyond Paying for Gas and Tolls, J.P. Morgan’s Max Neukirchen Envisions ‘Delightful’ Connected Economy on Wheels