ViaTag System Turns Cars Into Contactless Payment Devices

RFID Journal:Aug. 19, 2011—German startup company MotionID Technologies has developed a system that it envisions could change the way people purchase goods and services, using RFID tags attached to a car's windshield to pay for parking as well as paying for hamburgers at a drive-through, or services at a carwash, or gas station. The same technology could also be used by rental car agencies to manage the parking of vehicles. Initially, MotionID's ViaTag system, developed with help from the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics, where the technology was tested, is in use by parking lots in northern Germany.

The ViaTag system consists of two tags—both capable of conducting financial transactions. Users can sign up for the service by visiting the ViaTag Web site and receiving a EPC 2 passive UHF RFID windshield sticker. They can also receive a ViaTag Pacc plastic card with a built-in high-frequency (HF) 13.56 MHz passive RFID tag complying with the ISO 14443 standard. Each sticker and card has a unique ID number that is linked to data provided by the user during the sign-up process.

The windshield sticker is attached to a car, while the Pacc, the size of a credit card, is designed for use by a consumer when not inside the car. For example, if driving a car other than the one fitted with a windshield tag, a driver can use the Pacc card for parking or other services involving the untagged vehicle. In addition, the driver could park in a mall's parking lot, leave the car, and visit a store, where he would present his Pacc card, have it read in order to link it to parking validation so that he would not be charged a parking fee when he leaves the mall.