The last 5 years have seen the foundations of a revolution in both mobility and payments, with both areas receiving large sums of VC funding.
In mobility, you have the combined forces of ride hailing, car sharing, micromobility, and mobility as a service application. These automobility trends, coupled with the progress towards autonomy, electric and connected vehicles, are radically reshaping the industry. Traditional automotive players are being disrupted by technology providers that are better able to meet the evolving needs of users.
In payments, contactless methods continue to rise. In the UK, it is expected that 36% of all payments will be contactless payments by the year 2027. This is likely to be further accelerated by the perceived infection risk of handling cash in the times of COVID-19. We are also seeing the rise of crypto and invisible payments.
Do you as a mobility provider want to know how to step up to the challenge of delivering new personalized experiences?
A blurring of worlds
One trend that I am particularly interested in for 2020 is the blurring of the payment and mobility worlds, bringing new experiences and greater convenience for consumers. For providers in this space, the opportunity is to increase your importance to and understanding of your customers.
Here are a few interesting examples to take a look at:
- Bird pay. The scooter company Bird has launched Bird Pay, a mobile payment service that uses WeChat-style QR codes as a method to pay for items at a curated set of stores in close proximity to scooter riders. This follows in the footsteps of other mobility providers, such as Grab in South East Asia, and Uber's recent Uber Money announcement.
- AppyWay. This UK mobility business, focused on making parking forgettable, has introduced one-click parking sessions in collaboration with Visa. When a user drives to a parking space, the app pairs with a sensor in the road to initiate a parking session. With a single click, the user can pay for the exact number of minutes the parking space is used. To find out more about Star’s partnership with AppyWay, you just need to make one click here.
- Earlier this year, ExxonMobil and Fiserv announced that a new “Alexa pay for gas” skill will be enabled at 11,500 of their petrol stations this year.
Looking to the future
I believe we are just seeing the early shoots of innovation in this area, and the next few years will bring larger and more impactful use cases, such as:
- Mixed reality overlays being added into the vehicle HMI, showing prices, discounts, and payment options of vendors you travel past.
- Speed cameras automatically taking fines from vehicles that go past them too fast
- Your personal vehicle as an on-demand profit centre, which you loan out to people and charges them by the minute or mile travelled
- Electric vehicles calculating the specific amount of charge you need to get you home, and paying for only that, either by the driver or directly by the vehicle.
If you are an OEM, mobility provider, or supplier to the industry, interested in differentiating your offer through unique and frictionless payment journeys, get in touch to learn more.
