New iPhone app makes it possible to pay petrol bill from driver's seat

Apple unveiled iOS 16 at its WWDC event a few weeks back, highlighting the CarPlay experience. It has an iPhone app that can be really helpful for drivers.

Apple displays the CarPlay program at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, California. (REUTERS)

Apple unveiled iOS 16 at its WWDC event a few weeks back, emphasising 'next-generation' features. This is the CarPlay experience, but do note that perhaps it won't be available for some time. In this, a new 'fueling and driving tasks application function was introduced, which you can utilise, but only after the update is made available in the near future. It has an iPhone app that can be really helpful for drivers.

According to The Verge, at least one petroleum chain is in the process of implementing the functionality, which will allow for a new way to locate gas stations and make payments at the pump using only your car's infotainment screen.

Customers must create an account with the gas chain and add a payment method, and gas company developers must enable the CarPlay feature for their iPhone apps.

The parent business of Sinclair Oil, HF Sinclair Corp., with headquarters in Dallas, intends to allow gas purchases via the dashboard. According to Jack Barger, the company's SVP of marketing, they are enthusiastic about the prospect of customers using their car's screen to navigate to a Sinclair station and make a fuel purchase. The business owns more than 1,600 petrol stations.

This is not the first time a driver has been able to operate the pump from their seat; Ford and Exxon collaborated to create the Speedpass Plus app compatible with the Sync 3 infotainment system. With Shell stations, GM also attempted to implement the feature, but the software was discontinued earlier this year along with Marketplace, GM's in-car purchasing programme.

Modern gas stations have attempted to integrate phone app support into their pumps, and tap-to-pay readers are more prevalent than ever. However, in some cases, businesses like Exxon did not initially make it convenient -- the Speedpass Plus app for the iPhone included Apple Pay, but you could not simply use a standard Apple Pay tap at the pump. The Apple Watch Speedpass app was later deleted by the firm, as reported by The Verge.

It is currently possible to locate stations, get directions, and start charging at specific stations using Apple CarPlay-compatible electric vehicle charging apps like ChargePoint and Electrify America. We may anticipate new opportunities for in-vehicle e-commerce to go along with Apple's expanded ambition for applications in the connected car when iOS 16 launches this fall.