Gentex wants to transform the connected car into a mobile POS

As consumers become more convenient to conduct all kinds of different transactions on their phones, they are bringing the same associated expectations for comfort and safety to their cars and trucks.

For Michigan-based Gentex Corporation, This way forward takes the form of three “transactional vehicle offers” which it makes available to the automobile manufacturers, which are integrated into vehicles at the factory without additional hardware. The Integrated Toll Module (ITM), for example, has a toll tag built into the rearview mirror that uses a multi-protocol system that works on toll roads throughout the United States

Since it is integrated into the vehicle’s central control stack on the assembly line and is not stuck to the windshield as a toll sticker, it offers both an aesthetic appeal and a plus in comfort for cars that are driven through several systems and therefore require several tolls. Tags.

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“You have this beautiful Audi vehicle and now you have seven toll signs on the windshield for driving through different parts of the New Jersey Turnpike or some other structure,” said Gentex chief technology officer Neil Bohm PYMNTS said, noting its growing appeal as automakers seek new ways to connect with consumers while generating income from that engagement.

“This is where these technologies can help pave the way for them,” added Boehm.

So far, the ITM system is only available for factory integration in new Audi vehicles, but Gentex expected announce its second ITM customer later this year.

Contactless refueling

The ITM product follows on from an earlier Gentex partnership with PayByCar, which was announced in November 2020 and which enables contactless payments for refueling processes in the vehicle – as long as the petrol station has the necessary hardware reader at its pumps.

After registering and entering a credit card, the drivers receive an SMS when they drive into a petrol station, confirming that they are actually at the petrol station. After filling in, you will receive a receipt in the form of a text.

“We see a lot of convenience influence here,” said Boehm. “People want it to be simple, seamless, and not have to carry a credit card to drive to the gas station. You can just pull up, get a text message to confirm it’s you, and move on. “

Although gas stations need to install readers at the pump in order to run PayByCar, the incentive to invest in the hardware is a combination of increased traffic, convenience, brand loyalty building, and big sales from other on-site purchases.

“There’s a certain brand loyalty to how you connect people and maybe generate additional income by bringing the consumer into the store instead of just swiping their credit card and leaving,” Boehm said.

Logical next steps

In the future, the PayByCar ecosystem could be expanded to include restaurant passageways.

“There is the element in which the hardware of the integrated toll module and the PayByCar merge into a single system. What we would expect in the longer term is the ability to use this hardware for multiple things, ”explained Boehm.

Gentex is also working on a separate partnership in which it can integrate the Simplenight app into its own HomeLink Connect app and then into branded OEM apps and navigation systems. This provides eConcierge mobile services that book travel, entertainment, and more.

See also: Apple and Google have connected car partnerships

Authentication in the car

Gentex also offers automakers a way to provide better authentication for transactions made in the car through a biometric system that is also built into the rearview mirror that scans the user’s iris. This provides more security and is particularly useful for carpooling as the person’s account can be used to pay the toll.

“We probably started using an iris scan camera that was hidden behind the glass of a standard rearview mirror five or six years ago,” Craig Piersma, Gentex director of marketing, told PYMNTS. “It would be able to recognize the driver’s iris and authenticate so that you know exactly who is behind the wheel.”

Each of these developments planned to add features that would be the logical next step for consumers to pay for by car.

“Not everything should be bought from the car,” said Böhm. “The possibilities of the technology are unlimited. it is much more about which ones are accepted the fastest and which reach the consumer, ”concludes Boehm.

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