Starting in 2022, Mercedes-Benz will be launching new services allowing customers to use fingerprint scans to verify purchases from inside their vehicle. While this makes it sound as though the feature will be limited to feeding the meter, fast food, gasoline, and the occasional tech-savvy prostitute, parent company Daimler said it was an important step forward for its MBUX multimedia interface and the general trajectory for luxury vehicles as a whole.
Announced earlier in November, we have only just been made aware of the program (h/t Automotive News) due to the initial focus on Europe. Having recently partnered with Visa, Daimler Mobility has opted to test the feature on its home market with the United Kingdom being the first English-speaking nation to see if being fingerprinted by your car is that much better than being fingerprinted by your phone.
From Daimler:
From spring 2022 onwards, Mercedes-Benz customers in the UK and Germany will be able to make payments using a fingerprint sensor in the car, with other European markets to follow. Purchases can then be made directly through the car’s head unit, or MBUX. The solution is anticipated to be available in other markets globally at a later stage.
In-car commerce has become an integral aspect of the luxury customer experience. For example, Daimler Mobility’s global payment platform called Mercedes pay enables customers to buy goods and services directly in their car, including Mercedes me services, as well as for other use cases such as fuelling [sic] and parking.
“Mercedes pay is our competence centre for in-car payment, through which we offer our customers worldwide digital services seamlessly integrated within the Mercedes-Benz ecosystem,” explained Daimler Mobility CEO Franz Reiner. “In partnership with Visa, Daimler will offer native in-car payments that meets the requirements of two-factor authentication in a secure and user-friendly way. There is nothing more convenient than authorising a payment with your fingerprint. A luxury customer experience of course includes the aspect of safety, and we fulfil that through native in-car payment. We offer our customers security not only when driving, but also when paying.”
While I’ve never felt overburdened or unsafe using cash or a credit card, this kind of technology is becoming fairly commonplace as payment features have become more integrated with mobile devices. The automotive industry’s current emphasis on becoming data-focused has encouraged manufacturers to chase those trends and Mercedes-Benz has — for better or worse — frequently placed itself on the front lines.
The system will use the Visa Cloud Token Framework, allowing for services to be shared across multiple devices (which now includes automobiles). Customers will allegedly be protected by converting “sensitive payment information” into data that will be securely stored. Once paired with the vehicle and any other devices, data is integrated with the consumer’s bank credentials to allow immediate access to funds without having to reach into any pockets or input information. Daimler said it would be piloting the program in Europe with aspirations to extend services globally.
[Image: Daimler]
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This would be helpful at the fast food drivethrough.
“This would be helpful at the fast food drivethrough.”
I’m sorry Dave, your wife says no Big Mack for you” :)
..or, the window won’t roll down when you’re at a non-sponsored fast-food drive-up window.
Good thing it was Merc doing it. If it were Tesla, you would have crucified them, but for Merc, you just did your PR part.
Matt’s gottta be who he is.
Get real. I’ve been bashing Tesla and MB over this kind of stuff for years and routinely gripe about connectivity features in general.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2021/05/driving-dystopia-tesla-activates-driver-monitoring-protocols/
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2019/01/mercedes-benz-wants-you-to-purchase-options-digitally-after-your-car-leaves-the-factory/
I don’t trust Mercedes any more than I do Tesla.
And were this BMW, they’d lock the feature behind a subscription service so you can keep paying them for what you already bought.
I keep having flashbacks to that episode of the dystopian sci-fi TV series, “Torchwood,” where a top-secret headquarters building was protected by high-tech locks that required fingerprints and a scan of the iris of the people who were permitted access to the building. Bad guys, intent on getting in the building, found someone who could get into the building and chopped off his hand and gouged out his eyeball which they used to get inside.
You don’t suppose car thieves might chop off the hands of Mercedes owners in order to steal their cars, do you? I’m just sayin’.
“Torchwood” was an anagram for “Doctor Who.” Would the car be bigger on the inside than it was on the outside?
@SilverCoupe: Nicely done. :-)
Darn…I was hoping for the retinal scans like they had in “Minority Report.”
youtube.com/watch?v=ITjsb22-EwQ
Next product cycle.
Oddly, Mercedes already knew you would say that. Guilty!
I’m sure they got their fingerprint technology from an iPhone. We all know how well that works. Can I see an E or S class driver eating fast food int their car? NO. Perhaps fingerprint touch will light up the tri-star on a CLA?
Perhaps this could lead to a new QOTD. What food would you: never eat in your car, only eat with jeans/sweatpants on, and what food would you never eat while wearing clothes you send to the dry-cleaners?
The Mercedes-Benz eco-system? What part of hell is that? They already have an EQS charging eco-system and E-Van eco-system, so apparently it’s Buzzword Central at the Gorden Wagener Sensual Purity Daimler Design Center Ecosystem of Nitwitticism and Future Dystopia. Design something useful and important for a change, like a reliable In Car Potty Eco-system with Automatic Odor Relief.
Save me from technical artsy fartsy BS, O Lord.
It will stop working every 10,000 miles and will cost $10,000 to fix after warranty.
This kind of sucks for criminals. Now, in addition to a gun, they have to lug around a set of bolt cutters as well.