In the meantime, Samsung Card has begun to examine the feasibility of smart vehicle-related business. Lotte Card is expected to enter the same market by making use of its fintech business agreement with Visa concluded last year.

This trend is attributable to the high growth potential of the fledgling market. According to the credit card companies, cars are being combined with information and communications technology at an increasingly rapid pace these days and this can result in the emergence of smart vehicles as a payment tool comparable to smartphones in the near future.

Early last year, Visa Card and Honda already exhibited their smart car-based payment system at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain. Alipay and SAIC Motor developed Roewe RX5 last year, which allows payments to be made from within the vehicle in places such as expressways, parking lots and drive-through stores.