Cerence Introduces Cerence Pay for Voice-Powered Payments in the Car

Cerence Inc., AI for a world in motion, launched Cerence Pay, a new product that delivers a secure, contactless payment experience in the car through voice-powered AI. Cerence Pay is designed to anticipate drivers’ needs and provide a seamless payment transaction from intent to authentication via voice and facial biometrics and through to purchase. The company is currently working with Audi on a joint project to build Cerence Pay into future Audi head units.

Just as the demand for in-car voice assistants soars, so does the need for fast, contactless, voice-powered payments for common needs on the road, including parking, fuel, electric vehicle charging, restaurant reservation booking, fast food, and more. Contactless payment was already on the rise, but the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the desire for touch-free payment options. In fact, according to a recent announcement by Visa, more than 70% of all Visa transactions in Europe are now made by contactless card or mobile devices.

“As contactless pay becomes an everyday occurrence for people at grocery stores, coffee shops, and other retailers, we want to deliver that same great experience on the road, where safety and convenience are of the utmost importance,” said Nils Lenke, VP and General Manager of Cerence Applications business. “Beyond the benefits to drivers and passengers, Cerence Pay enables OEMs to offer a superior, intuitive experience with safe and secure transactions via voice and facial biometrics and seamless integration with the car’s head unit and companion apps.”

“We’ve set out to build a natural, intuitive in-car experience centered around an intelligent companion that meets drivers’ every need while on the go,” said Andreas Reich, Executive Director, Development of Connected Car & Infotainment, Audi. “Cerence Pay is a relevant module, making the travel experience that much simpler and safer through secure, voice-powered payments – a must in today’s world.”

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 Pay Partner Ecosystem

To support this need for payments in the car, Cerence is building an ecosystem of partners that it will continue to expand over time. In addition, Cerence Pay is easily integrated with an automaker’s preferred payment partners and companion apps. This powers a flexible platform that enables OEMs to create their own unique experience and meet the specific needs of their drivers: more convenient, secure payment options driven by personalized and relevant content in their moment of need. It also offers OEMs and content providers new transaction-based revenue streams to stay competitive in today’s digital economy.

The initial Cerence Pay partners include:

• Arrive offers a single, seamless mobility experience that leverages AI to predict and recommend the best parking solution for your destination.
• Parkopedia is the world’s leading parking service provider used by millions of drivers and organizations to find and pay for parking. Parkopedia brings new and improved parking experiences to drivers and connected cars in 15,000 cities across 89 countries covering over 70 million parking spaces.
• Visa is the world’s leader in digital payments. Visa’s advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The Central European markets at Visa include Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands

“Visa aims to provide seamless commerce experiences to consumers around the world. In-vehicle payments are just one part of Internet of Things where we see tremendous potential. This is why we are excited to be working together with Cerence in Central Europe,” says Jürgen Schübel, Head of MS&A at Visa in Central Europe. “For consumers, paying from inside of their car is as simple as using their debit or credit card in store – and it is just as secure, thanks to the Visa tokenization technology. This opens up a whole new world of convenient transportation and paves the way for the next generation of in-car payments.”

“Arrive pioneered voice-enabled parking in 2017, and our investment in AI has transformed the consumer experience. In-car assistants powered by Arrive’s recommendation engine makes parking intuitive and easy, allowing consumers to focus on the road,” said Ed Lewis, Senior Vice President of Arrive. “Cerence is a market leader in voice AI and a trusted partner of the world’s leading automakers. We anticipate Cerence Pay will benefit hundreds of millions of consumers and parking will be among the most used services.”

Commenting on the announcement, Parkopedia’s COO, Hans Puvogel said, “Parkopedia is the leading provider of multi-vendor parking payment solutions to the automotive and mapping companies around the world. Parkopedia provides its parking payment platform to Cerence as an extension of our long-standing relationship building on our existing integration with Cerence’s cloud service. We are delighted to assist in delivering a seamless voice assistant payment experience to drivers around the world.”

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Compelling User Experience

Cerence Pay is more than on-the-road payments; it delivers context-aware commerce to drivers, enabling transactions that are relevant and easy to interact with. Through contemporary AI-based technology, personalized payment experiences eliminate the need to dig for credit cards or to enter difficult information on the head unit, so users can get what they want and keep their focus on the road. Further, Cerence Pay leverages voice and facial biometrics for secure authentication and payment. For example:

• Fuel Up: The driver needs to fuel up on the way to work and asks the system for the nearest gas station. Upon arrival, the driver is presented with the ability to choose a pump and pay for fuel directly from the car. The driver could also add a coffee from the convenience store or a quick car wash.
• Dining and Drive Through: After work, the driver is making plans for dinner. The system can offer relevant choices, then book a reservation for dining if needed. The driver could also order and pay for food to pick up and take home.
• Parking: When navigating to a busy destination downtown for the dinner, the voice assistant proactively tells the driver that there is no street parking available, then locates a garage with available space in walking distance from their destination. Once confirmed, the system provides a stall number and starts the payment process.
• Tolls: On the way home from dinner, the driver takes a toll route and uses the system to authorize payment.

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