Visitors, attendees, and guests at the 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) were most likely surprised to see a futuristic blue car on display. The vehicle, resembling a prop from the popular The Jetsons cartoon, was emblazoned with the logo of American finance corporation, Visa.
According to Jennifer McIsaac, Visa Canada’s marketing director, the idea was to create a symbol that reflects the future of payment innovation. The Connected Car Commerce project (or simply, Connected Car) is meant to be a concept vehicle to show the world how Visa believes we’ll all be paying in the near future.
“Really, this came as an idea to showcase the future of payments innovated via the Canadian debut of the Connected Car,” explained McIsaac, via email. “By 2020, more than 250 million vehicles worldwide will include some form of embedded connectivity, and we know we have a big role to play as this connectivity spurs more commerce opportunities.”
The Connected Car on display at the TIFF between Sept. 10 and Sept. 20—during which the festival was in full swing—was merely a proof of concept. The vehicle on display at the TIFF is purely a glimpse into a possible future, and is not reflective of what future mass-produced vehicles will resemble.
“While the Visa Connected Car demonstrated at TIFF is proof of concept, we wanted to showcase Visa’s connected commerce technology as a demonstration of what is possible,” said McIsaac.
Visa’s connected commerce technology is simple and relatively intuitive. Instead of needing to step out of a vehicle to make payments, or rummage around for a cell phone, wallet, or credit card, one can make payments through the vehicle itself. While the idea seems quite interesting, it’s important to recognize that the technology is very much still in development.
The Connected Car’s look was designed by three sons of the Royal City: Chris, Ben, and Matt Middleton.
“We reached out to the Middleton brothers to help us create a ‘car’ worthy of catching consumer eyes during a busy TIFF timeframe,” explained McIsaac.
In an interview with the Guelph Mercury, Matt Middleton explained the roles he and his brothers played in bringing the Connected Car’s design to life. Chris designed the car, Ben acted as construction manager, while Matt ensured that each of the car’s specific details were fully realized.
“It’s absolutely in line with what’s going to be realizable in the near future,” said Matt Middleton, in an interview with the Guelph Mercury. “Vehicles already have an interactive dash linking phone and media to their vehicle. It’s just one next logical step to have payment technology directly from your car.”
Visa also revealed a number of other projects at the TIFF, including a virtual reality retail platform where attendees entered a room surrounded by eight-foot screens that transported them to a number of shopping environments. Inside, attendees were able to interact with merchandise, learn more about possible purchases, and, finally, make payments in real-time.
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The Ontarion is the University of Guelph’s independent student newspaper. It began in 1951 as part of the Ontario Agricultural College and then began to represent the entire University of Guelph once it amalgamated in 1964. The Ontarion incorporated in May 1970 as The Ontarion, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation registered with the province of Ontario.