Kia launches CarPay and partners with Parkopedia

“Adding an in-car payment service is a significant advancement for customer convenience as software and connectivity continue to expand the capability of a vehicle,” said Sjoerd Knipping, Vice President Product & Marketing at Kia Europe.

Though almost all journeys begin and end with a parking space, parking remains very challenging in big cities, with 92% of drivers finding it difficult to locate available parking spots across France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US.* Any mistake with parking can be costly, with millions of parking tickets issued each year across Europe. This is especially problematic with electric vehicles, with 49% of EV drivers across France, Germany, Italy, and the UK receiving unexpected parking fines while charging*.

“Kia CarPay adds significant convenience and from launch helps to alleviate one of the key pain points for drivers, simplifying the process of finding and paying for parking,” said Hans Puvogel, COO at Parkopedia. “Not only does this reduce the amount of time drivers spend searching an area to locate an available space, but it also bypasses the frustrating process of having to find an operational parking machine or downloading various phone apps to try to activate and pay for parking sessions.”

Parkopedia services are integrated into vehicle navigation systems for seamless operation and help drivers to find the nearest available parking spot at their destination, detailing the costs involved and predicting the likely number of available spots. Kia CarPay then enables the customer to pay for parking through a secure transaction via a securely stored payment card, with no additional apps necessary. Parkopedia’s parking payment service focuses primarily on outdoor and on-street parking, with the intention of expanding to indoor parking, such as parking garages, in the future. It currently provides access to more than 1.7 million transactable parking locations in 19 European

countries.