In-car payment by using your fingerprint

In-car payment by using your fingerprint

Mercedes-Benz Mobility and VISA form global technology partnership

As a result of a new global technology partnership between Mercedes-Benz Mobility and Visa, Mercedes-Benz will offer “native” in-car payments. This means that entering passwords or relying on mobile devices for payment authentication will soon be a thing of the past as the vehicle itself becomes a biometrically enabled payments device, thanks to Visa's Delegated Authentication technology.

From spring 2022 onwards, Mercedes-Benz customers in the UK and Germany will be able to make payments using a fingerprint sensor in the car, with other European markets to follow. Purchases can then be made directly through the car’s head unit, or MBUX. The solution is anticipated to be available in other markets globally at a later stage.

In-car commerce has become an integral aspect of the luxury customer experience. For example, Mercedes-Benz 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 fuelling and parking.

The technology behind native in-car digital commerce

Mercedes pay is a component of Mercedes-Benz’s mobility and digitalization strategy, and a business segment of Mercedes-Benz Mobility. Mercedes-Benz will be the first ever automotive company in the world to incorporate the Visa Cloud Token Framework into its vehicles. Visa’s Cloud Token Framework is a cloud-based security technology that allows more flexibility across multiple devices as Visa Cloud Tokens protect and remove sensitive payment information by converting data and storing it securely. They also enable multiple device pairing in and beyond the car, which are then directly integrated with the consumer’s bank credentials. This significantly improves the overall payment experience as consumers no longer need to enter long card numbers to complete a purchase or switch between devices to authenticate payments. The solution will be used to initiate a two-factor authentication.