Until now, cars have simply been a means of transport. But with the new advancements in connectivity tech, cars are now equipped to do so much more, increasingly delivering lifestyle changes for its riders.
ICPS (In-Car Payment System), the first domestic in-car payment service included in GV80, is one such advancement in connectivity tech that stands to enrich the daily lives of the car drivers. In simple terms, the service allows the drivers to make payments without getting off the car. Just as smartphones have come to replace the physical wallet, cars can likewise deliver the same function.
Services providing in-car payments have already been running in North America for the past two to three years, but those existing services come with clear limitations. Because they use not the platform developed by the car manufacturer but external platforms, compatibility issues make it difficult to expand the service after launch. Even when customer feedback clearly points to an avenue for expansion, arduous procedures remain for the developers who must juggle with the external platforms.
Using the car manufacturer’s own payment platform thus comes with a key advantage: the service can be easily and flexibly expanded to accommodate customer needs. When a credit card company might wish to partner with an incoming provider to the platform, for example, the job can be done very quickly to establish and deliver the new service to the customers.
Indeed, Hyundai Motor Group’s ICPS platform, the first-of-its-kind in the world developed by a car manufacturer, responds to the rapidly changing times to provide the riders with a new source of daily convenience.
ICPS: Quick, Easy, and Safe
In order to use the In-car Payment Service, one must first join the Genesis Connected Service.
The first step to using ICPS is joining the Genesis Connected Service (or Bluelink or UVO, for Hyundai and Kia Motors respectively), a wireless connected car service necessary for the transfer of transaction information.
The screenshot shows the carpay app with the completed car and the credit card information
After signing up through the smartphone application ‘carpay,’ the user is asked to input the credit card and the membership card information. Then a six-digit pin number is set for card transaction authorization. Currently, Hyundai’s ICPS service is partnered with six domestic credit card companies (Hyundai, Shinhan, Samsung, Hana, BC, and Lotte), and the maximum number of cards that can be registered is five.
A pop-up message is displayed after arriving at a partner gas station, which the driver can set as the destination in the navigation system.
With the registration taken care of, the driver is now ready to use the carpay system in gas stations or parking lots. When a car enrolled in the ICPS service sets the partner business as the destination in the navigation system, a pop-up screen appears upon arrival to ask whether the driver wishes to use the ICPS service. If he does, he will select ‘yes.’ If the existing payment methods (credit card or cash) are preferred, he will select ‘no.’
When the driver arrives at a partner business without using the navigation, he can still directly select the partner business on the navigation map and click the ICPS payment option. The system will function as long as the GPS detects the partner business in the vehicle’s vicinity. If there are no partner businesses in proximity, the system will stay dormant to forestall transaction abuse and ensure safety.
Once the ICPS service is selected, the subsequent steps are just mere touches of buttons. At the moment of GV80’s release, ICPS service is usable at select SK Energy gas stations and parking lots affiliated with Parking Cloud. These partner locations are searchable through the GV80’s built-in navigation system. But given the existing differences in the transaction mechanisms of gas stations and parking lots, the ICPS functions differently for the two categories. We explore these differences in greater detail below by creating hypothetical scenarios at the two locations.
When the ICPS service is activated by the driver, the system, the credit card company, and the partner business undergo a complex shared protocol of more than 10 steps: the car’s GPS signal is transmitted to verify the entry, the order information is conveyed, the credit card information is verified, a one-time token for the transaction is issued, the transaction is requested and authorized, etc. Despite the complexity of these under-the-hood procedures, the driver enjoys convenience at the touch of a button.
ICPS Scenario 1: Parking Lot
The navigation screen displays a partner gas station. The specifics are displayed on the right side of the screen.
Once the car enters a parking lot partnered with Parking Cloud, the entryway camera scans the license plate information and determines whether the car is registered for the ICPS service. If so, the car’s navigation screen will display the parking fee info for five seconds.
After the errand is complete and the driver returns to depart, the navigation, upon turning on, will first check whether a parking fee has incurred. If so, the system will ask whether the driver will use the ICPS service to pay. The driver has a choice to continue to use existing payment methods like credit cards and cash.
The ICPS service not only is easy to use but also shows comprehensive payment options in one concise screen
If the driver decides to use the ICPS service, the screen will display the time of entry and departure, parking duration, the total parking fee, and the payment options. In the event that the driver has an offline coupon, the driver can check the ‘offline coupon’ checkbox. The system may also ask whether to use membership points, based on the information input by the driver during signup.
The ICPS service uses a randomized keypad and multi-push function to encrypt the pin number.
Once all the transaction details are verified, the driver needs to input his six-digit pin number to finalize the transaction. Various safety measures, such as a randomized keypad and the multi-push function, are activated in the process. Randomized keypad creates the keypad afresh for every transaction in random order (as commonly found in banking apps). The multi-push function simultaneously selects from four adjacent number tiles at random when the driver inputs the pin number, making it difficult for passengers or passersby to see the code being input.
As seen, using the ICPS service to pay for parking is superbly easy.
After the pin number is verified, the screen displays the finished transaction report. The driver may now simply drive to the exit gate, get the license plate scanned, and depart. If the driver selected the “offline coupon” option, he would need to issue the coupon to the lot attendant at this time. Once verified, the amount of the markdown will be subtracted and canceled from the card payment.
ICPS Scenario 2: Gas Station
As mentioned, using the ICPS service at gas stations can take two forms. The driver may have selected a partner gas station as the destination in the navigation, which would pop-up the ICPS payment option; alternatively, the driver may manually select the ICPS payment option on the navigation map upon arrival at a partner gas station.
Using the ICPS service can make paying for gas a lot simpler
After the selection of the ICPS option, the order screen pops up. The driver is to input the type of fuel purchase (full tank/by price/by liter); type of fuel (diesel/regular gasoline/premium gasoline); and credit card selection for payment. The order screen automatically retrieves the previous transaction info by default: for example, if the driver had bought $30 worth of diesel using a Hyundai card, that exact combination will load again on the next purchase as the default option.
Thus, if the driver has a steady pattern in his gas purchase, all he has to do is to simply one-click on the ‘pay’ button, saving much time over the existing payment options―not that changes to fuel amount or payment type will result in much delay at all.
The next step is processing credit card markdowns and membership points. Again using the information input at signup, the system processes markdowns and membership point adjustments automatically. Previously, the drivers sometimes had to carry three separate cards for various membership markdowns; the ICPS system reduces all these pesky complexities into two easy steps. Consequently, the driver need not spend as much time at the gas station. After these matters are settled, the driver, just as he would at parking lots, needs to input the 6-digit pin number to finalize the sale.
The steps are mostly the same at self-service gas stations, except for the addition of Step 5, in which the driver inputs the license plate number into the fuel pump.
The next steps diverge for stations with attendants and self-service stations. In self-service stations, the driver selects the ‘Carpay’ menu in the fuel pump, which will trigger the input screen for the car’s final 4 digits of the license plate number. After confirming the payment option (as displayed in the app), the fueling can begin. When the attendant is present, the driver must notify the attendant that the payment has been completed via ICPS. The attendant will confirm the payment and begin fueling. Once the fueling is complete, the transaction summary will load onto the screen and will continue to be reviewable through the smartphone app.
Future Expansion of the Carpay Function
Hyundai Motor Group’s ICPS service will continue to expand into other promising sectors
Thanks to its own platform, Hyundai’s ICPS service can easily expand the service range. Taking advantage of this, the manufacturer is seeking to expand the service soon into other sectors beyond just gas and parking. Drive-thru service at restaurants and charging for electric cars are two of the possible markets ripe for the service’s entry.
Meanwhile, Hyundai plans to expand the application of the ICPS system beyond GV80 to all Genesis vehicles equipped with the advanced 6th-gen navigation system. Within the first half of the year 2020, the expansion will cover the Hyundai/Kia models equipped with the 5th-gen standard navigation as well. For the cars already on the road, a simple software upgrade will make this connectivity service available, as long as the model is equipped with the 5th-gen wide navigation. For Hyundai, that would be models released after Palisade; for Kia, models released after Soul Booster are eligible.
With its superb expandability as foundation, Hyundai’s ICPS service will continue to expand the automobile’s role as an everyday payment option. The futuristic connected car―once an idealistic dream for sci-fi movies―is gradually coming into our daily view.
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