Today in the Connected Economy: Google Rolls Out New Digital Wallet

Today in the connected economy, Google unveils a new digital wallet, as well as new security features for online purchases with the help of Visa.

Also, Airbnb updates its website and search functions, while CarGurus rolls out a digital platform that connects car buyers and dealers.

Google Unveils New Android Digital Wallet

Google has unveiled a new Google Wallet, aimed at standardizing the way users access and save payment cards, transit and event tickets and vaccine passports.

“Over the last few years, our lives have become increasingly digital. From credit cards to vaccine cards, most items that we would typically add to our wallets now live on our mobile devices,” the company said in its announcement. “Our phones not only act as containers for these items, we also use these devices to conduct our daily activities.”

The wallet will launch on Wear OS, Google said, starting with support for payment cards, and will eventually let users save and access hotel keys and office badges from their Android phones.

Google Brings Virtual Cards to Autofill on Chrome, Android

In what it says is a “sign of growing importance of protecting digital transactions,” Google announced it is bringing virtual cards to Autofill on Chrome and Android.

And with that change, Visa is planning to replace 16-digit card number used in Autofill when consumers buy things from their desktop or mobile device.

“Tokenization is the magic behind it,” Visa said in a news release. “To put it simply, Visa is adding a kind of ‘personal security guard’ to safeguard the consumer’s card number.”

Airbnb Unveils Search Features, Protections as it Doubles Down on Digital Nomads

In a redesign bid to bring up more kinds of booking options in more streamlined ways, Airbnb is debuting what CEO Brian Chesky called “the biggest change to Airbnb in a decade.”

In a video presentation on the company’s 2022 summer release, Chesky unveiled several innovations to the platform, including a new design and search features designed to bring travelers directly to their ideal temporary home.

Airbnb Categories, the new search feature, groups home shares by uniqueness of location, architecture and more.

Car-Sharing Platform Getaround Going Public in SPAC Deal

Digital car-sharing service Getaround is going public through a $1.2 billion special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger with InterPrivate II Acquisition Corp.

The boards of directors of Getaround and InterPrivate have approved the transaction, which still needs the blessing of stockholders as well as regulatory approvals before the expected close in the latter half of the year.

If the merger is approved, Getaround will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GETR, with Getaround Founder and CEO Sam Zaid overseeing the combined company.

CarGurus Launches Digital Platform to Connect Dealers With Shoppers

Online vehicle platform CarGurus has launched CarGurus Digital Deal, a retail offering that lets shoppers create personalized deals according to their budgetary needs through dealer listings.

Digital Deal follows CarGurus Convert, a lead-based initiative that concluded its 12-month pilot run earlier this spring, closing twice as many deals and seeing consumers completing checkout at a rate seven times higher than the typical appointment rate, the company said.

Digital Deal lets dealers access CarGurus’ 31 million unique average monthly consumer visitors in the U.S. with an offerings that includes financing and insurance products, lenders and more on their listing pages, the company said.