Volkswagen’s Latest Acquisition Lets You Pay For Parking With Your Phone

Hate digging around for spare change when you’re parking in public? We know that sometimes this can be a hassle especially if you’re out of coins, which is why there seems to be a rise in services that allow users to make payments using their phone. Now it looks like Volkswagen could be interested in hopping on that bandwagon as well.

A report from The Wall Street Journal has revealed that the carmaker has acquired a Canadian company by the name of PayByPhone. As its name implies, this allows for drivers to pay for their parking using their mobile devices, whether it be through their smartphone app, or through phone calls or even text messages.

It is unclear how much Volkswagen has paid for the company, but it seems particularly lucrative as the company is estimated to process $300 million in transactions on an annual basis. Both companies have since confirmed the deal, but declined to provide any additional information, which we guess isn’t that surprising.

As it stands the service exists in major cities such as Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, London, and Paris, just to name a few. At the moment it is unclear as to what Volkswagen could want with such a company, but it certainly is an interesting shift in strategy.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Transportation
Tags: Apps, volkswagen