Cover
Login screen
Dashboard screen
Payment activity screen
Dashboard Start Parking
Dashboard Parking Active
Dashboard Stop Parking
Business Model Canvas
Value proposition

Problem

These days, we’ve got a lot on our minds. The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrates to us the value of time – the freedom to be with those we love and to live in security. And we are now more than ever dependent on our cars and we have to make it the safest place. Considering the massive shifts in the status quo, it is clear that technology has been central to our evolution and adaptability in these times. Because “safety” is the ethos of our every-day life. Time is a commodity you can’t afford to waste in life, especially in this tough year.

Successful people learn to control their own time to achieve success and not someone else’s. We know you are one of them, so that’s why we are trying to come up with an innovative solution that performs annoying tasks for you. So you can easily focus on your primary responsibilities. We know how stressful it is trying to be on time everywhere, so we want to make every second of your life valuable. Save time from staying in long queues at the gas station! Stop wasting time trying to figure out how a parking meter works! Take the hassle out of searching for your wallet when you are hungry at your favorite drive-in restaurant! Forget about trying to find an ATM before going to the car workshop! Keep the distance, avoid contact and take actions to prevent the spread of Covid right from your car!

Solution

We propose a vehicle-based contactless payment technology that will instantly become your best buddy. We call it Payssenger! The ideal impact is to provide a more accessible, sustainable and feasible solution that will help you minimize interactions and save precious time!

We create a simple but secure customer experience that uses geolocation technology and a cloud based pre-payment check with the PayPal, Apple or Google Pay wallet or your personal credit card.

The solution can be extended to any location that is vehicle-friendly and has a camera system built-in or enables the implementation of such devices. Example of possible payment services:

Gas stations

Payment at gas stations should be straight-forward if they have a video camera on each lane. This way, the user just fills up the car tank. The action will be automatically detected and a picture of the car number will be taken, processed and the amount of money will be withdrawn from the payment method.

If there is no video camera on the lane, the user can manually input the lane number in the app. The flow should be the same. Or the cashier can confirm the lane number, so there would be no input from the user. The location will be taken from the mobile phone.

Parking lots

If there is are video cameras at the entrance and exits of the parking space, then the flow will be the same as with the gas stations.

Moreover, data about space availability and pricing could be provided in zones with IoT-powered parking stations.

If there are no cameras (for a street parking for example), the user can start payment in app and stop payment when leaving the parking. If the app detects that user parked on the street, but didn't start the payment, it will be done automatically from the time the car was parked. Same thing if the user leaves the parking place without stopping.

Workshops

Whenever work is done to a car in the workshop, the bill is already made for the vehicle using the number plate. It is very easy to automatically pay for the maintenance and repairs with the app if the information is already provided and the number is linked to a user. Moreover, having work done on the car tracked in the app means that you can have an overview for when it's time for the next appointment.

Tolls, Fines, Drive Thru restaurants

What all of these services have in common is that they can already detect the car's number from the installed cameras. This enables the possibility for a quick implementation for the various locations to enable payment without rolling down the window once.

It is clear that cash or POS card payments aren't going anywhere in the near future. And we're not trying to react everybody from the beginning. That's why our solution doesn't interfere in any way with traditional transactions, it is natural that they co-exist for a while.

Our solution is designed with self-driving cars in mind. If a car is programmed to find a parking place by itself (like the Audi Q7 concept), then it will automatically manage payment of the parking place and subtract the final amount without any interaction from the owner.

Payssenger can also be used by companies which manage a fleet of cars, like rental companies. It would be very easy to manage all the costs throughout the rental and then provide the customer with the detailed bill at the end of the period. Both parties would have benefits from this kind of solution, not worrying about extra steps in payment.

One more cool feature enabled by having the connected cars and drivers is that everybody will be able to anonymous message other users by the number plate. This can be useful whenever there may be a problem with a target car, like damage or flat tire, or someone did a bad parking and they need to move their car.

Business model

Competitors - why we're better

There are some concept apps out there which help with the contact-less payments. But the solutions are tied to a car manufacturer or a service provider. Some examples of these kind of solutions are Hyundai Motor Group’s ICPS platform, Honda Dream Drive, Jaguar-Shell.

Our solution enables every user that is willing to switch to in-car payment to jump in right away, scan the number plate and start the journey with hassle-free payments. On top of that, there is no need of extra hardware installed in the cars and it works with all the partners, no matter the brand.

Gaining trust

We know that having an app to automatically manage all the payments related to your vehicle can raise some eyebrows regarding security. There is also a lot of research done in the gas stations' customers that show how people still prefer paying in cash for fueling up. Generally, having a lot of cash on you is not a great idea because all of the fraud and theft that can happen. But this period has accelerated the need to perform contactless transactions. And it will leave a mark in the future which will convince people to stick to this method. Our app takes all the security precautions by using the top payment infrastructure for the internet. On top of that, many people have services like Apple Pay or Google Pay which make the transaction process very quick, secure and have already gained trust of the users. Moreover, the users will be notified of every transaction and can access all the digital receipts at any point in time. If that is not enough, users can opt to approve transactions by using biometric authentication (FaceID, TouchID).