As well as new vehicles, MAN Trucks launched SimplePay in Hannover – a digital platform to make life easier for drivers on the move.
Essentially, the truck becomes a ‘digital wallet’, therefore being able to complete everyday banking transactions.
MAN says it is the first of the truck manufacturers to develop such a system, however it appears similar to a Mercedes-Benz announcement from last year.
The biggest benefits, it says, of SimplePay are complete transparency and simplification of payments.
It is the first step towards ‘a complete transaction ecosystem’ for different services, says the truck maker.
For example, MAN has partnered with BP for automated and contactless payments when refuelling.
In other words, the driver stays with the truck, saving time queueing in the filling station shop.
As well as the drivers, fleet managers are also set to benefit from SimplePay.
They have a real-time overview of the vehicles, thereby allowing them to control all costs and processes.
As a result, administrative workloads are reduced, leading to improved efficiency within the business.
Meanwhile, from a technical point of view, the payment process takes place directly from the truck via its RIO Box.
Digital payment processing is carried out by another partner, the payment processor Stripe.
Finally, the cloud infrastructure is provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
It will be possible to book MAN SimplePay via the MAN Marketplace – and the service is installed over-the-air on the selected trucks.
MAN says the the planned market launch for SimplePay will take place ‘as quickly as possible’.
Further in the future, other services will be possible, for example, payment guarantees to workshops in the event of a breakdown.
Interestingly, the UK will be first to trial the technology by the end of the year.
After that, it will be introduced into the German market.
by john c
