At Mobile World Congress 2018 (#MWC18) in Barcelona this week, enterprise software giant SAP announced a number of new additions to the SAP Vehicles Network, its B2B marketplace for connected car apps and services.
These include new payment options from MasterCard Corporation, navigation capabilities from Here, and on-demand delivery services from Postmates.
The SAP Vehicles Network is a services marketplace for automotive industry vendors. Powered by SAP HANA Cloud, the worldwide network instantly connects buyers, such as OEMs and car app developers, with sellers, such as gas stations and parking chains, says the company.
All roads lead to HANA
As part of the new agreement, MasterCard will enable payments to take place while drivers are still in their cars. The service includes ‘tokenised’ payment options, in which the personal account number (PAN) associated with a driver’s credit, debit, or prepaid card is replaced with a secure token.
“As a part of the SAP Vehicles Network, we’ll engage our bank and retail partners and use our technology to provide a seamless and secure way for people to pay for things like parking or gas while still in the comfort of their car.
“MasterCard services, including security, loyalty, and analytics, may also be incorporated into the network to further enhance the overall experience,” said Sherri Haymond, executive VP, Digital Partnerships, MasterCard.
Traffic, navigation, and mapping provider Here, intends to integrate the SAP Vehicles Network with its own product offering, with an initial focus on parking apps and secure payments.
Meanwhile, Postmates’ so-called ‘on-demand everything’ network is designed to enable drivers to place orders through its merchant and courier ecosystem, via the SAP Vehicles Network.
SAP will also integrate its expense, travel, and invoice management software, SAP Concur, into this part of its stack.
Internet of Business says
In the world of SAP, all roads ultimately lead to SAP HANA. But the company’s stack has become increasingly difficult to navigate, integrate, and even to purchase for some customers.
In response, SAP Leonardo arrived in summer 2017 as an innovation system – or, as SAP put it, a “management template and automation layer designed to integrate and cross-correlate different software components” from the SAP menu, and that of its partners.
Extending SAP Leonardo’s IoT automotive market with SAP Vehicles Network is a natural destination on the roadmap that we would now expect to see.