FCA continues to advance its in-vehicle technology, announcing today the launch of Uconnect Market, a new in-vehicle commerce platform that gives customers the opportunity to conveniently order food, find the nearest gas station, save money on fuel purchases and make dinner reservations, all from the comfort of their vehicles.
With the new platform, FCA owners will be able to skip lines and save time by ordering (and paying for) food and beverages, reserve a table on the way to their favorite restaurant or locate and securely authorize pump-and-pay fuel at participating locations. Drivers also can locate and pay for nearby parking and schedule service appointments at FCA US dealerships, all while in the vehicle without having to reach for a physical credit card.
“Our customers live busy lives, and our goal with the Uconnect platform is to provide an advanced portfolio of services to make their daily drive more convenient, productive and enjoyable,” said Alan D’Agostini, global head of Connected Services, FCA. “This is why we are launching Uconnect Market, as we continue to ramp-up our connectivity efforts around the world with the goal of having all new FCA vehicles connected by 2022.”
The lineup of brands participating in the Uconnect Market platform at launch includes Shell, Domino’s, Park Whiz and Yelp Reservations.
Uconnect Market includes the following services:
• Wallet: When setting up a Uconnect Market account, vehicle owners can enroll a credit card for use with selected Uconnect Market partners
• Service: Consumers will have access to national Mopar service offers, the ability to locate a certified Mopar service center and schedule service appointments
• Fuel: Owners can view a list of nearby fuel stations and authorize a fuel pump charge at participating Shell stations by using Shell Pay & Save program
• Food: The platform uses Yelp to display a list of nearby restaurants by category; consumers also have the option to make reservations at participating restaurants
• Parking: Find, book and pay for parking at thousands of garages across North America through ParkWhiz, an Arrive-powered brand
Uconnect Market was developed in partnership with Seattle-based Xevo, recently acquired by Lear Corp. The platform will deploy in the second half of 2019 via an over-the-air (OTA) update for model-year 2019 and 2020 Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram brand vehicles equipped with connected services and the latest generation of 8.4-inch touchscreens, and will continue as a carryover feature for future models equipped with the 8.4-inch touchscreen.
Commitment to Connectivity
The Uconnect Market introduction follows the recent FCA announcement of a new in-vehicle “ecosystem” using HARMAN (Samsung) and Google Technologies. According to FCA, this new system will promptly and securely manage in-vehicle and additional data using an architecture based on the HARMAN Ignite cloud-based platform. It also will be powered by Android, offering a strong, proven and intuitive app-based environment that provides fresh content via OTA updates, fast interaction and seamless wireless integration with the customer’s mobile devices.
The key components of the new “ecosystem” will start to rollout in phases across global regions during the second half of 2019, and all new FCA vehicles will be connected by 2022.
