Visa and Car IQ expand in-car payments for commercial cars

The news: Visa partnered with Car IQ Inc. to advance in-vehicle merchant payments for commercial cars, per a press release.

• The tie-up brings Car IQ’s wallet, Car IQ Pay, into Visa’s network so merchants can accept payments directly from cars and trucks.
• Commercial cars can pay for things like fuel, tolls, parking, insurance, and repairs without using a physical card.
• The solution also includes real-time offers and personalized rewards for drivers.

The bigger picture: In-car commerce is taking off.

• 151.4 million people will drive connected cars in the US this year, per our forecast—53.7% of the US population.
• And payment players, automakers, and merchants want to take advantage of this payment opportunity. Mercedes-Benz just added an in-car payment feature for parking, for example. And a recent tie-up between Domino’s and Apple CarPlay lets drivers order pizza from their car dashboards.
• The connected-vehicle payments industry will reach $600 billion by 2030, per consulting firm Ptolemus.

What’s next? Car IQ wants to capture more of this potential payments volume, so it’s also working with Visa and automakers to embed payments within consumer vehicles’ infotainment systems.