Apple CarPlay Could Soon Be Used for Contactless in-vehicle Fuel Payments
Most of the hype surrounding easy, contactless payments in the automotive space has to do with plug-and-charge electric vehicle stations, but gas-powered vehicles might not be left out of updates to a more tech-driven future if rumors about changes coming to Apple CarPlay pan out. A new feature quietly unveiled at Apple’s developer conference this month will allow CarPlay users to tap an app to navigate to a pump and buy gas straight from a screen in the car, skipping the usual process of inserting or tapping a credit card.
Reuters is reporting on a new, dashboard-based fuel payment feature scheduled to be released this fall in an updated version of CarPlay. While Apple apparently showed off the feature at its developer conference in June, details about the fuel payments were not made public until now. Reuters has confirmed with at least one gas station chain owner, HF Sinclair, which markets its diesel and gasoline brands at over 1600 stations in 30 states. The company said that it hopes to integrate the new CarPlay payment options with its stations and will provide more details soon.
“We are excited by the idea that consumers could navigate to a Sinclair station and purchase fuel from their vehicle navigation screen,” HF Sinclair’s Jack Barger told Reuters.
Gas station pumps have increasingly been equipped with contactless tap readers that can get payment information from a compatible credit card or a digital device like an Apple Watch. The general idea for the CarPlay update is that you will be able to use your car’s touchscreen to pay for fuel without the need to pull out a credit card. The technical details of how a car with Apple CarPlay will communicate with compatible pumps was not divulged by Apple or Sinclair, but you will need to download compatible gas station apps in order to make it work. Once everything is installed, the navigation app will be able to not only direct you to a station but also be able to start the refueling session.
CarPlay can already be used to pay for parking sessions, EV charging, and ordering food, Reuters notes, saying that the ability to use the software to log miles driven on business trips is also on the horizon.
You can add CarPlay to your current car with an aftermarket system: Alpine, Blaupunkt, Clarion, JVC, Kenwood, pioneer and Sony.
Apple CarPlay is compatible with these iPhone models:
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone ten s
- iPhone ten s Max
- iPhone ten r
- iPhone X
- iPhone 8
- iPhone 8 Plus
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 7 Plus
- iPhone 6s
- iPhone 6s Plus
- iPhone 6
- iPhone 6 Plus
- iPhone SE (1st generation)
- iPhone SE (2nd generation)
- iPhone 5s
- iPhone 5c
- iPhone 5