JJ Eden, executive director of North Carolina Turnpike Authority, gives further insight into industry discussion surrounding in-vehicle payments and asks, given that this technology is coming, how long is left for the humble windshield transponder?
In my last article, I wrote about in-vehicle payment systems where customers can seamlessly pay for tolls, fuel a vehicle, grab a quick bite, get their car washed and access vehicle information without compromising security. In this column, I’d like to share with you details of a dynamic panel I was part of at the CES 2025 show in Las Vegas in January. More than 141,000 attendees and 4,500 exhibitors from across the globe highlighted the latest innovations at CES.
Vehicle-related commerce is a growing topic of major interest with drivers, OEMs, tier-one, payment companies, and merchants. With representatives from the automotive, retail, and payment systems our conversation explored strategies for enabling in-vehicle payments, targeted advertising, customer incentives, points of interest and other convenient features for occupants of connected vehicles.
On the panel, I was joined by some of the best from various industries, including Mohamed AbouElEnin, vice president, product development and innovations with Mastercard; Abdullah Pandit, executive director, strategy & partnerships with JP Morgan; Cathi Chinn, vice president of innovation with Verra Mobility; Cynthia Hollen, CEO and co-founder, Building the Next Frontier of Commerce in the Connected Car, and John Moon, innovation, partnerships and operations for Automotive, Gaming, Payments and Startups. Suzanne Murtha, vice president, advanced mobility, payments systems and automation with AECOM served as moderator.
“The transponder has a limited life expectancy and will eventually be phased out… we can facilitate this process, or risk being left behind”
Among this panel of innovators, I represented the government sector, as executive director of the North Carolina Turnpike Authority (NCTA). The toll industry, and the organization I helped co-found in 1988, E-ZPass, is built around in-vehicle payment. Today, E-ZPass is in the top five of all payment processors in the US with more than US$10 billion in transactions annually.
The transponder has a limited life expectancy and will eventually be phased out. The tolling industry must work to connect car manufacturers and payment processors to our existing 100 million strong customer base – expediting the leap forward for in-vehicle payments. We can facilitate this process, or risk being left behind.
In North Carolina, we are piloting new technologies to bring in-vehicle payments to the daily lives of customers. More about this in my next column. We have already piloted parking and gas transactions using the transponder, as well as efforts with federal and state agencies on millage-based user fees.
The in-vehicle payment industry is too big for one vendor. We need open APIs, open systems and business rules that allow all the players on this stage to participate. As I expressed at the CES 2025 Show in Las Vegas, my hope is that together, we develop an open platform that connects everyone to simpler transportation, retail and all goods and services.
When do you think transponders, as we know them today, will cease to be used for tolling?
1 to 5 years
5 to 10 years
Never
This article was first published in the March 2025 edition of TTi magazine.
