Your Car Could Soon Pay for ParkingNico De Pasquale Photography - Getty ImagesWhat if you could pay for parking right from the driver's seat, without even using an app on your phone? It's the first step in a dream for those of us sick of having to download custom apps for everything from restaurant menus to shopping to logging in to work and dimming your lights.ParkMobile announced it is working up with Parkopedia, a parking services provider that helps drivers find nearby parking, to bake the ability to pay for parking straight into compatible vehicle infotainment systems. The service would cover more than 80,000 locations across the United States.The collab combines ParkMobile's parking payment network with Parkopedia's in-vehicle integration platform. Together, the companies say the service covers a good chunk of the more than 500,000 parking locations available across the country and is designed to make paying for parking faster and less of a hassle by eliminating the need to switch between mobile apps.AdvertisementAdvertisementAnalysts see the move as part of a bigger trend among automakers looking to expand their connected-vehicle services (read: money-making opportunities) beyond navigation and entertainment. Manufacturers have begun to integrate features such as fuel payment, EV charging, and toll payment directly into vehicle dashboards to try and create a more seamless ownership experience.ParkopediaAccording to Parkopedia's 2025 In-Car Payments User Experience Report, every US driver surveyed said easy-to-use in-car payment functionality was important, while 70 percent said they would be willing to pay more for a vehicle equipped with such services.The new system is meant to simplify one of the more frustrating aspects of urban driving. Rather than opening a separate parking app, creating an account, or entering location information on a smartphone, users can locate, reserve where available, and pay for parking from the vehicle's head unit.Parkopedia said its platform supports flexible digital wallet integration, allowing manufacturers to incorporate parking payments regardless of their existing payment systems.AdvertisementAdvertisement"OEMs are increasingly competing on the connected experience rather than hardware alone," Duncan Licence, Parkopedia's head of automotive and data, said in a statement. "By combining ParkMobile's extensive network with Parkopedia's automotive-grade integration, we're turning fragmented parking infrastructure into a seamless in-car service."The partnership also fits into a broader industry move toward software-defined vehicles, where automakers are looking to generate revenue through connected services even after a vehicle leaves the showroom, and often after it is completely paid off.