Wednesday, April 09, 2025

97% of Drivers Want In-car Payment System for Tolls, Etc.

Imagine having a well-designed payment app for your car's infotainment system that let you effortlessly pay for parking, road tolls, EV charging, or refueling.

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-- Ars Technica (@arstechnica.com) April 8, 2025 at 11:34 AM

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More from the article...

... For instance, there was a high level of desire to be guided through the process of entering one's billing or credit card info into an in-car payment app. Seven in 10 participants said that they'd want such a thing to happen when the car is being delivered and while they're still in the "new car" mindset.

But most don't want to do that at a dealership: 77 percent also said they would prefer to register for in-car payments at home, via the phone or a computer, with only 67 percent wanting to use the car's infotainment screen and just over half (53 percent) saying it would be OK to use the automaker's connected car app.

Almost all drivers (87 percent) said it would be useful if the payment app let them know when it could be used, and 80 percent said they'd be frustrated if their cars didn't notify them, which DriveResearch says "shows that there is a significant opportunity for OEMs to deliver value connected services with intelligently perceived nudges for in-car payments." ...


#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-04-08 03:35 PM

In Socal you only need one device for all the various county and state tolls. Actually, I think it's the same for the bay area too. Makes sense.

#2 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-04-08 04:05 PM

I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with it covering everything though.

#3 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-04-08 04:06 PM

East Coast has EZ-PASS for most toll roads. There are a few places I think you can pay for parking with it.

#4 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-04-08 04:13 PM

EZ pass for toll roads is great.

#5 | Posted by BellRinger at 2025-04-08 06:09 PM

I don't. That little bit of time stopped at the toll booth gives you a breather. But what do I know.

#6 | Posted by LauraMohr at 2025-04-08 06:20 PM

@#2 ... In Socal you only need one device for all the various county and state tolls. ...

Here in the Northeast, it is E-ZPass.

I never got one because of ...

E-ZPass Is the Best Tracking Device That's Already in Your Car (2013)
gizmodo.com

... E-ZPass is probably the best thing that's ever happened to paying tolls. Those plastic funnels you toss coins into are a close second. But E-ZPass has a bonus feature. It can be used to track you everywhere you go.

E-ZPass uses RFID. It's cool tech, but hackable and trackable in ways that the companies who use it don't really want anyone to talk about. E-ZPass RFID tags, for instance, can be scanned in plenty of places that aren't tollbooths. A hacker known only as "Puking Monkey" has shown that it happens all the time around the streets of NYC, and talked about his findings at DEFCON.

gizmodo.com

To test how often his E-ZPass RFID tag was getting polled, Puking Monkey wired a little mooing cow toy into the circuit so it would warn him whenever something happened. And in a short drive around Manhattan, PM found his cow mooing an awful lot for no immediately discernible reason. ...



#7 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-04-08 07:07 PM

Yeah, here it's Fastrak.

#8 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-04-08 08:36 PM

The only odd thing I've ever seen is it beeps at the airport (lax), where there are no Fastrak lanes.

On a different note, when you get off the freeway at Los Angeles International Airport, there's a huge sign that says LAX security. Not exactly comforting...

#9 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-04-08 08:39 PM

I don't think it's a good idea to have everyone thinking even less about their expenses. As it is most people can't stay within a budget, or even save for an emergency.

#10 | Posted by Whatsleft at 2025-04-09 12:42 PM

Here in the Northeast, it is E-ZPass.
I never got one because of ...
E-ZPass Is the Best Tracking Device That's Already in Your Car (2013)

pretty sure most modern cars know where you are all the time already.
only slightly easier than the cellphone that 99% of people carry everywhere.
just assume that you are being tracked everywhere and take appropriate precautions if you don't want to be.
Funny your article is 12 years old already. Much has changed.

#11 | Posted by MBlue at 2025-04-09 01:57 PM

Everyone wants convenience until their data is breached, then they want to blame others for offering conveniences that can't be 100% protected (no system is 100%).

In other words, people are stupid.

#12 | Posted by humtake at 2025-04-10 11:55 AM

Toll roads are a ripoff. That's what fuel taxes were supposed to be paying for.
OK charges tolls on interstate highways, which are federally funded.

#13 | Posted by itchyp at 2025-04-10 01:43 PM

I just want to know who is sneaking my car out at night and driving it across the Gold Gate bridge.

I live hundreds of miles from that bridge!

I can't tell you how many txts I have gotten about my car not paying the toll when it crosses the bridge at night.

I think maybe I am gonna just stop paying them.

#14 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-04-10 02:09 PM

97% of those polled, as the majority of citizens live where there are no toll roads. Of course, every time something new is added to a car the purchasing price rises and the majority of drivers need not this feature.

#15 | Posted by MSgt at 2025-04-10 03:44 PM

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