Visa and Pizza Hut demo car-commerce at MWC

Visa, Accenture and Pizza Hut are working together on a proof-of-concept car to test the use of the Internet of Things for e-commerce purchases.

The connected car was demonstrated in three use cases at Mobile World Commerce this week – paying for parking, refilling at a petrol station, and picking up a food order. The car uses Visa’s online payment service Visa checkout, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Beacon technology to test mobile and online purchases on the go.

The integration of these technologies is being managed by Accenture.

As part of the connected trial, the Pizza Hut has created an application for the car which opens when in range of a restaurant, providing in-car access to menus, delivery and pick-up options. The user will be able to place an order verbally, the car will be tracked, and food will be delivered to the customer once they reach the Pizza Hut car park.

The partners expect to test the connected car commerce experience in Northern California, over a three-month period, starting this spring.

“By 2020 it is estimated that more than 250 million vehicles worldwide will include some form of embedded connectivity,” said Bill Gajda, senior vice president of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at Visa Inc. “As the number of connected cars on the road increases, so does our ability to bring secure online commerce to consumers everywhere.”

“We initially focused on a specific use case – ordering a meal on your way home – but we envision a world where consumers can seamlessly make many of their everyday purchases from the car,” he added.