Cerence expands voice biometrics payments ecosystem with addition of ryd pay

Cerence has expanded its voice biometrics-powered Pay ecosystem by adding in-car digital payment capabilities provided by ryd pay.

The move will allow drivers to complete fuel payments with voice biometrics directly from the car in Europe and follows a similar partnership Cerence closed with P97 Networks to enable voice payments at fuel retailers in the U.S.

ryd pay is backed by financial and automotive giants such as Mastercard, Mercedes-Benz, and AXA, and is currently available as a smartphone app or via cars’ infotainment system.

Following the beginning of the new partnership, ryd pay will be added to the Cerence Pay ecosystem, enabling drivers to authorize contactless in-car fuel payments by issuing voice commands.

“With the car becoming more connected than ever before, it only makes sense to offer drivers contactless payment for services – whether that’s fueling up, getting a coffee, or parking,” explained Nils Lenke, VP and GM of Apps, at Cerence. “We add a layer of convenience by letting drivers use their voice to initiate payments and ensure security by authenticating them at the same time through voice biometrics.”

ryd pay is already available as part of the Cerence Pay platform in Germany, Benelux, Switzerland, and Austria, with more EU countries scheduled to be added in the coming months.

“We are enabling OEMs and merchants to offer better experiences that drive customer loyalty and separate them from their competitors,” said Sandra Dax, CEO of ThinxNet, the firm behind ryd pay.

“With the addition of the AI-powered voice capabilities of Cerence Pay, customers can more securely and conveniently initiate and authenticate transactions,” she added. “We are excited to partner with Cerence to bring even more powerful in-car experiences to the roads together.”

Cerence has been quite active in the first half of 2021.

In January, the firm entered a collaboration with Xevo for fleet driver safety biometric, and in April, the company VP of Product Christophe Couvreur joined a panel discussion on ‘Edge Computing for AI/ML Workloads in Automotive’ at Nvidia GTC 21.

Article Topics

authentication  |  automotive biometrics  |  biometrics  |  Cerence  |  contactless biometrics  |  payments  |  ryd pay  |  secure transactions  |  voice biometrics