“Alexa, pay for my parking”.
RingGo the UK’s leading cashless parking provider, saw the UK’s first-ever parking session booked through Amazon Echo Auto, made possible by RingGo’s new Alexa Skill. The parking provider is the first to market with a solution that integrates touch-free parking with Amazon Echo to enable an even easier way to park and pay.
Alexa Skills are apps that enable Amazon’s voice assistant to connect with devices and software to execute tasks, like turning on lights or playing music. RingGo’s Skill, which is available at launch with the new Amazon Echo Auto, takes paying for parking one step further than an app on your phone, enabling parking payments in seconds through voice activation – truly touch-free. This innovation also follows a current trend in the uptake of cashless payments in the wake of Coronavirus with local authorities and parking operators providing safer ways to pay for parking.
Peter O’Driscoll, Managing Director at RingGo, said: “The launch of our Amazon Alexa Skill is a much-needed innovation in the current climate and we’re incredibly proud that we’re first to market with it. Based on current guidance from the government and the World Health Organisation to minimise contact surfaces and deal less with cash, touch free and voice command payments offer a way to reopen outdoor spaces and city centres – and the car parks that provide access to them – without putting the public or employees at additional risk.”
At the end of last year, RingGo announced the integration with both iMessage and Siri to support easier, quicker parking in over 17,000 locations around the country. The company’s latest innovation with Amazon Echo Auto, which is aimed at providing an in-car infotainment experience for older vehicles, extends the reach of voice-activated payments. Adding to its other cashless payment options, RingGo now provides motorists with more ways to seamlessly combine navigation, parking, transport and daily digital routines.
