Mastercard joins Mercedes to put finger-sensor purchases within cars

Sep 25, 2023, 4:21 pm EDT | Jim Nash

Mastercard joins Mercedes to put finger-sensor purchases within cars

Global finance company Mastercard says its mobile pay systems have been integrated with Mercedes-Benz vehicles in a service called Mercedes pay+.

In Germany, 3,600 gas stations also are being integrated. According to marketing material from Mastercard, drivers of equipped Mercedes models reportedly can pay for fuel within the vehicles using their fingerprints. The carmaker already incorporates the biometric sensor.

Mastercard‘s secure card on file service is part of the integration, and bridges the consumer in the car with vendors. The company claims this work is “the first use case for native in-car payments at the point of sale.”

Being able to authorize a transaction with biometrics on a car dash reduces the times people would have to make the same purchase using a phone. It is not a new concept.

According to Mastercard, Mercedes pay+ was launched in 2018, but it is not clear which finance company, if any, was involved in the interim.

In the promotional content, Nico Kersten, CEO of Mercedes pay+, says the third-party connectivity that his unit has created “can take the in-car payment experience to the next level.”

Collaboration with Mastercard has made the authentication experience easier for motorists, says Kersten.

“We have a lot of ideas about what drivers and passengers would like to use” when it comes to information services in cars. “We’re working hard to keep giving our customers the most valuable gift: their own time.”