Sheeva.AI accelerates in-car commerce worldwide

It came from a very personal experience. I was trying to pay for parking while my pregnant wife had to wait in the car before we could make it to the doctor. That’s when I thought: “Wait a minute. My car already knows where I am. Why can’t it pay for parking itself?” This was the birth of Sheeva.AI—a location-based in-car payments technology that can be used to pay for and activate fueling, parking, EV charging, tolls, and lots more.

Our SheevaConnect™ platform includes a patented geolocation technology (that pinpoints a vehicle's location within two meters) combined with the mapping of millions of service points (such as fuel pumps and EV chargers). So, when you arrive at the gas pump, EV charger, or parking space, you receive an automatic notification on your car’s infotainment screen about which services are available, and you can activate and pay for what you need with just a single tap.

We needed a payments solution that could deal with the complexity of digital payments and create an experience that's instant, secure, and seamless for drivers and service providers. Given our global ambitions, the solution needed to work across regional differences in consumer behaviors, brand preferences, and banking systems.

We chose Visa Acceptance Solutions to get the benefits of Cybersource's state-of-the-art Token Management Service, which can:

• Handle connections with multiple processors without needing separate integrations.
• Link and manage network tokens from card brands, banks, payment types, and channels.
• Ensure transactions are reliable, secure, and frictionless.

Through a single integration with Visa Acceptance Solutions, Token Management Service opens up payments for Sheeva.AI across services and customers, helping make the payments side of our offering easier and more convenient.

Consumers can feel safe because the tokenization service keeps their card details protected by Visa. And when expired, lost, or stolen cards get replaced, those details are automatically updated in the system without customers having to lift a finger.

These benefits also reassure our partners that they can confidently invest in in-car commerce.

It’s quite simple: if a service provider already has an app, SheevaConnect™ can tap into their existing IT infrastructure and deliver a seamless, digital payment experience to customers within their vehicle. For example, we've integrated our platform with systems that are already used by many fueling stations to enable payment at the pump, so they don't need a separate integration with Sheeva.AI to accept in-car payments.

Primarily, Sheeva.AI promotes omnichannel marketing and customer relationships. For example, energy companies process millions of transactions each day but often have limited knowledge about who those drivers are, how often they choose their particular brand, and what could make them loyal customers . Using location-based in-vehicle payments and service delivery, Sheeva.AI can give drivers a personalized experience that helps merchants connect to their customer base and understand what works well in their business model and what can be improved to generate more revenue and customer engagement.

On top of that, tokenization can help boost payment approvals¹ and conversions compared with using raw card numbers in card-not-present transactions—potentially allowing service providers to capture revenue that was previously missed through false declines.²

Consumers and drivers can enjoy frictionless and secure payment from the safety of their car. They can authorize a transaction with a single tap on their in-car screen instead of having to reach for their mobile phone or retrieve a payment card from their purse or wallet. They can also get the benefits of loyalty rewards and discounts automatically linked to their account when they sign up for Sheeva.AI-enabled services.

Looking ahead, Sheeva.AI will be able to help drivers find the nearby car-related services they need. Imagine, for example, if your electric car could tell you when it's time to charge the battery and could identify your nearest EV charging station—as well as enabling you to pay for that charge from the screen in your car.

We're already seeing drivers of Sheeva.AI-enabled cars opting for in-car payments for fuel, and we've extended the service to cover car wash payments, too. We plan to roll out Sheeva.AI to millions more service points around the world in the near future.

We started with car-related transactions because that's where we felt we could make the most difference to consumers. When you're behind the wheel of a car, fuel, parking, and tolls aren't 'nice to haves'—they're things you have to buy. We wanted to make those purchases faster, easier, and safer.

As drivers become used to the concept of in-car purchasing, we can look to extend in-car payments to a broader range of services—to any transaction, including retail and digital services using the same credentials.

We want to continue combining the information we receive from the service providers to make our solution even more helpful. For example, letting drivers know about the real-time availability of curbside pickup spaces when they go to get an online order. And when it comes to electric vehicles, we envisage retailers being able to convert the time drivers wait for their cars to charge into valuable, personalized shopping opportunities.

Ultimately, we expect in-car or in-vehicle commerce to become another channel alongside eCommerce and mCommerce—part of the unified commerce approach that many retailers are eagerly adopting.

Read the full story to learn more about how Sheeva.AI leverages Visa Acceptance Solutions for seamless in-vehicle payments through Token Management Service.