Touchless pay a glimpse of Gentex future

Advanced rearview mirror technologies have made Gentex Corp. a key Tier 1 supplier in the auto industry. Now the Zeeland, Mich., company is pursuing a new mirror function that could position it for changes in the way people will drive in the future.

Gentex has formed a partnership with PayByCar Inc., a Boston provider of in-vehicle payment solutions. The partners use Gentex's Integrated Toll Module that operates via RFID transponder to let drivers pay for gas entirely contactless.

The solution allows drivers to use their smartphone and toll transponder to fuel up at certain gasoline stations without using cash or a credit card.

The module is still early to market and limited in its capabilities. PayByCar's technology is available at only seven locations — four Alltown stations in Massachusetts and three Circle K locations in North Carolina. And it works only with vehicles equipped with a compatible module. For Gentex, that means several Audi models.

But given automaker and parts supplier interest in new revenue streams, the module positions Gentex well for a variety of telematics possibilities, Craig Piersma, Gentex marketing director, told Automotive News.

It also addresses a new hot point for consumers — the COVID-inspired desire for more touchless transaction options.

It is just one step in Gentex's move into products, Piersma said.

"This is just expanding our offerings in the connected car space," he said. "It's about continuing to build on those platforms, add more functionality so that it's more enticing to our automaker customers and ultimately the end user."

The basis of the partnership is Gentex's Integrated Toll Module, a product innovation that snagged the supplier a 2020 Automotive News PACE Award.

Paired with the module, which is factory-integrated into the vehicle, PayByCar can identify autos at participating gasoline stations. The system sends a text to the driver, who replies with the station pump number he or she is using. PayByCar turns on the pump, registers the purchase, charges the credit card on file and issues an email receipt.

"They are really looking to expand their user base and their customer base," Piersma said of PayByCar. "For us, it's about leveraging and expanding the use of the Integrated Toll Module or the usefulness of ITM.

"We have the same common customer, and that is anybody who's driving with a toll transponder," he added. "This is a ... way for an automaker to get into that space relatively quickly and inexpensively with something that's working and functioning and growing."

For Gentex, which sold $1.81 billion in components to automakers globally last year, the development is part of the company's new markets team strategy to bolster its existing portfolio for trends such as vehicle connectivity.

"We're being a little more aggressive and opportunistic on technologies that would mesh with ours and expand our capabilities," Piersma said. "It's still ultimately about putting some hardware in the car for us. We have that real estate in the mirror location."

That's not to say mirrors are the only location where future Gentex technology will occur, he clarified. But ultimately, the plan is to expand on "the offerings that we have in the car today," he said, "making it more useful."