Alexa, Pay For Gas. Or Maybe A New Car...

Amazon is determined to convince consumers to use Alexa to do more shopping, which will generate both more income and more data for Amazon. But the same reason that has kept customers from using it at home will probably apply to the gas pump as well: they still dont entirely trust it and it is not more convenient than existing options. JL

Daniel Fields reports in Business Insider:

Amazon, ExxonMobil, and Fiserv are working together to let consumers use Alexa to make gas payments at the pump from their car. The offering could lead consumers to make voice payments more broadly.  Paying for gas with Alexa could be more arduous than the standard payment process, so consumers may not be enthusiastic. While the feature removes the need to get out of a car and insert a payment card, it adds new steps since consumers must go back-and-forth with Alexa to confirm their station and pump number. It's possible this process won't be faster than standard fuel payments,
The e-tailer, ExxonMobil, and Fiserv are working together to let consumers use Alexa to make gas payments at the pump from their car, per TechCrunch. 

To use the feature, which will be rolled out to over 11,500 Exxon and Mobil gas stations this year, consumers tell Alexa to pay for gas, and the voice assistant confirms the station and pump number before activating the pump so consumers can pump their gas. The payment is then made via Amazon Pay, with Fiserv's technology reportedly activating the pump and creating a token for the transaction. Consumers will be able to make these payments from Alexa-enabled vehicles — this includes cars from Audi, Ford, Toyota, and more — its Echo Auto product, and other mobile Alexa-enabled devices.
The offering could be enticing and lead consumers to start making voice payments more broadly. The ability to activate a gas pump before getting out of the car may be attractive to consumers if they prefer not to stand out in the rain or other unpleasant weather, if they have safety concerns, and other reasons.
Additionally, some hackers have been targeting magstripe transactions at fuel pumps, so paying with Alexa may help consumers better protect their data at gas stations. If consumers choose to start making fuel payments via Alexa because of these benefits, they may use it to make other types of payments as well if they like the hands-free nature and other perks, potentially helping the voice payments industry grow beyond the $2.6 billion in volume it's estimated to have brought in last year in the US.
And for Amazon in particular, this could boost both payments through Alexa and Amazon Pay, raising its payments business' performance. The feature may also introduce consumers to car commerce and make in-car payments more popular — and considering car payments volume is forecast to grow from $3.4 billion in 2019 to $16.4 billion in 2024, it could be a lucrative channel alongside voice payments.
Fuel payments overcome one potential issue for voice payments, which may allow it to serve as an attractive entry point for the payment option, but it's unclear how convenient it will be.

• Consumers don't have to worry about whether they're paying for the right product when using Alexa to pay for gas. If consumers are shopping via a voice assistant, they may want to visually confirm their purchase, especially if they haven't seen the item before, because that's how they're used to shopping. But when paying for gas with Alexa, they know what they're paying for and can still select their fuel grade, so consumers may be more likely to give voice payments a chance in this context.
• But paying for gas with Alexa could be more arduous than the standard fuel payment process, so consumers may not be particularly enthusiastic about the option. While the feature removes the need to get out of a car and insert a payment card to activate a gas pump, it adds new steps since consumers must go back-and-forth with Alexa to confirm and activate their station and pump number. It's possible this process won't be faster than standard fuel payments, so it may not gain widespread adoption quickly.